LaLiga take a stance in the Barcelona-Messi saga.
The dispute between Barcelona and Lionel Messi has taken yet another turn as LaLiga made their position known and have sided with the Catalan club.
According to Diario Sport, LaLiga back up the club’s claim that the Argentine can only leave if a team pays the €700 million release clause despite Messi’s camp insisting that clause has expired.
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LaLiga released a statement in which they stated that Messi’s current deal is valid and all but confirmed Barcelona’s stance with regards to the future of their superstar player.
La Liga side with Barcelona in Messi contract dispute, saying his current deal still valid and paying release clause only way out pic.twitter.com/USudIXOTtY
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) August 30, 2020
The latest development and the stance taken by LaLiga should come as no surprise. It is in their best interest for Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona and LaLiga. It would be a tremendous blow to the marketability of the league if he were to leave. Especially if his new destination is the Premier League.
LaLiga has long been trying to compete with the Premier League and for a while they could use both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as marketing tools when negotiating with advertisers or even in negotiating broadcast rights.
When Ronaldo left, their belief might have been that they could handle it because they still had Messi. That may not be the case soon.
Messi makes good on his word and does not show up for COVID-19 testing.
The Barcelona squad were supposed to return and undergo testing for COVID-19. Messi had informed the club that he was not going to show up and in the end was a no-show.
If it wasn’t clear before it is now that his mind is made up and there is no going back. Coupled with LaLiga ratifying the release clause in his contract, this situation is set to get messy.
As it stands, the likely scenario is that this dispute ends up in court which is what Messi and his camp were trying to avoid.
President Josep Maria Bartomeu does not want to meet with Messi to negotiate his exit. He will only meet with him if it is to negotiate a contract extension which looks almost impossible to happen.
Barcelona will now determine what kind of consequences, if any, will Messi face for failing to show up. However this ends up, the relationship between the two sides will be irreparably damaged. Messi’s exit was on the horizon. Though no one in their wildest dreams imagined it would go down the way it is going.