BREAKING: Finally, Barcelona give Lionel Messi easy way out

The possible departure of Lionel Messi from Barcelona after over 16 glorious years has dominated the media recently.

While the report comes to many as a huge shock, others welcomed it as a step in the right direction. For the former, Messi has rightly proved himself to be the soul of Barcelona and his contribution unmatched. However, for the latter, Messi has seen it all at Camp Nou and needs a fresh challenge.

Meanwhile, whichever divide one represents, the fact that Messi deserves more understanding than he is getting at the moment cannot be denied considering his antecedent.

The greatness which the club Barcelona are renowned for is gradually fading away with little been done by the club hierarchy to restore it.

The bitter pill of Barcelona ending the recent season trophyless was compounded by their embarrassing UEFA Champions League 8 – 2 thrashing by Bayern Munich.

Strangely, Barcelona have exited the European competitions where they once dominated in embarrassing fashion in recent times. Their 4 – 0 defeat at Anfield in May, 2019 to throw away their three goals advantage coming from Camp Nou was viewed by many as the height of the club’s decadence.

Ideally, one would have expected the Catalan club to break the bank for a tactical rebuild to restore their glory immediately, but sadly, the struggles have persisted with some unsuccessful transfer business that have yielded little or no results.

There is no doubt that six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi has endured some frustrating moments to remain at his boyhood club, but painfully, the club have done less to regain their reputable status.

Messi who was understandably pictured cutting a frustrating figure after their recent UEFA Champions League 8 – 2 humiliation at Estadio da Luz, Lisbon by Bayern has failed to recover from the nightmare and has since questioned his continual stay at Camp Nou.

The unfolding of events ranging from the recent leakage of the Messi’s chat with Barcelona’s new boss Ronald Koeman to the treatment of team-mate and close friend Luis Suarez have given rise to the Argentinian superstar anger with the club.

However, it is understood that Messi’s decision to quit Camp Nou culminated in Koeman’s recent statement which forced the Argentine to send a burofax to the club on Tuesday to break the news that he wants to leave immediately following 16 glorious years at the Nou Camp.

Koeman was reported to have declared via Deportes Cuatro that:

“The privileges in this squad are over, you have to do everything for the team,”

“I’m going to be inflexible; you must only be thinking about the team.”

Messi was said to have taken exception to the above Koeman’s statement which was rather viewed it as authoritarianism having not had such relationship with his coaches at Barcelona.

Meanwhile, National Daily gathered from reports in Spain that Barcelona have replied Messi’s burofax telling him they want him to stay and finish his career in Catalonia.

They are also said to have set out their legal terms for if he refuses this, insisting he will not have the right to leave on a free this summer.

It is believed that Messi’s contract states that he can leave on a free at the end of any season if he wishes, and the 33-year-old stated his intentions to do so via the fax, but the club is arguing that the above clause expired with the last season when it was not activated after June, 2020.

From the above, FIFA may need to step in with the interpretation on when the 2019/2020 season actually ended.

Recall that the world football governing body FIFA adjusted the season under review by way of extending it into August, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. And if this stands, it becomes an easy way out for Messi.