Lionel Messi may not be allowed to leave Barcelona in January.
Barcelona fans can relax for a while now as it has been confirmed that their beloved Lionel Messi will not leave the club in January. The news, although relieving, is not going to completely put the minds of fans at ease as the player will become a free agent at the end of the season. However, Manchester City’s plans of stealing the player in the winter transfer window has come to a halt for now and they must wait until Barcelona elects a new president.
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The new controversy in the Messi transfer saga arrived when the clearly frustrated player put forward his unhappiness to the media. This time due to Antoine Griezmann’s former agent and uncle, who claimed that the Argentine was the root cause of Griezman’s failure at the club. This drove Messi to respond to the comments and his frustration at the club was very evident. The club has not been performing well under Ronald Koeman and it seems like the six-time Ballon d’Or player wants to move away from the club as soon as possible.
This move however will not take place before a new president is elected. According to the rules of the football club, an interim management team can look after the essentials of the club but they cannot make changes such as transfers thus they do not have the power to sell Messi to the English side even if they want to. Media outlets have reported that City are willing to make a bid close to 60 million pounds this January but it will not be too useful.
The temporary board cannot sign off transfers and thus they will be more focused on trying to solve internal problems first. The election for Presidency will be held on the 24th of January and Victor Font is looking like the most likely candidate. They will also try to sort out the wage cuts of all members of the club. In order to keep the club running the board must shift their attention from Messi to the internal financial problems instead, as if they continue without a wage cut, the club may very well go bankrupt.
Should Barca convince Messi to stay beyond his existing contract?