Messi's next club: place your bets!

Who will Messi join?


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Mb194dc

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Looks like he will have to push hard to get a move, with Barcelona (and La Liga) digging in their heels.

Wonder if we'll see a public statement where he says what is obviously the truth: He doesn't want to play for Barcelona anymore because they're run by clowns, aren't competitive to win the CL and probably won't be for several years.

They can hold him to his contract if they really want to, he can do a Bale and just turn up for training so they have to pay him for doing nothing then leave for free at the end of the season. Question is if Barcelona are prepared to let him rot for a year and lose £150m in wages and transfer fee or not ? Or if Messi cracks if that is the only option on the table ?

Clearly the whole league suffers without Messi star power and the premier league will benefit, harder to get a good price for the La Liga TV rights, especially in present circumstances. That must be why we've got them already refusing to accept he can leave for free.
 

Chief123

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According to Sport Bible, Messi has decided to stay at Barca. Massive meltdowns if that’s the case.
 

gorky_utd

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So messi has snubbed pep and city? I hope he now extends his contract with barca.
 

Chief123

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I smell clickbait...
From Guilleme Ballague tweets today suggested Barca don’t wanna let him go and if there is a large fee involved then the numbers won’t stack up for city. It needs to be a free transfer in order for city to get it over the line apparently.
 

Loon

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Liverpool forgot Stevie Me’s flirtation with Chelsea, Rooney’s rep with us is tarnished, wonder if Barca fans will be as forgiving?
 

Zen

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Liverpool forgot Stevie Me’s flirtation with Chelsea, Rooney’s rep with us is tarnished, wonder if Barca fans will be as forgiving?
Odd comparison... Gerrard flirted with Chelsea who Liverpool fans knew were a better option titles wise and wage wise. Only a minor rivalry. Messi isn't even remotely looking at Spain.... Rooney with City, who were purposefully trying to one up United further after the Tevez ordeal, plus a massive rivalry. He also questioned quite frankly a club legend....

Theres next to nothing in it from a fan turning on him perspective.
 

Loon

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Odd comparison... Gerrard flirted with Chelsea who Liverpool fans knew were a better option titles wise and wage wise. Only a minor rivalry. Messi isn't even remotely looking at Spain.... Rooney with City, who were purposefully trying to one up United further after the Tevez ordeal, plus a massive rivalry. He also questioned quite frankly a club legend....

Theres next to nothing in it from a fan turning on him perspective.
“Only minor rivalry”? Think you underestimate the situation. Not talking about fans turning, more his legacy, which in Rooney’s case, was tarnished, even though he was great for us.
 

Revan

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Liverpool forgot Stevie Me’s flirtation with Chelsea, Rooney’s rep with us is tarnished, wonder if Barca fans will be as forgiving?
Of course, they will. He is literally worshipped in Barcelona (and rightly so).
 

Classical Mechanic

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According to Sport Bible, Messi has decided to stay at Barca. Massive meltdowns if that’s the case.
Really? Most of the City fans I know in real life either didn’t want him or didn’t believe for a second that he’d join them in the end. I found their whole reaction to it surprising.
 

Chief123

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Really? Most of the City fans I know in real life either didn’t want him or didn’t believe for a second that he’d join them in the end. I found their whole reaction to it surprising.
You wanna check out blue moon mate. They are foaming at the mouth at Messi for him using them again.
 

Zen

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“Only minor rivalry”? Think you underestimate the situation. Not talking about fans turning, more his legacy, which in Rooney’s case, was tarnished, even though he was great for us.
Nope, lived it, lived it a location where it's a massive mix bag of Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton fans.... it was a rivalry because they met each other a few times in a short span, minor, Chelsea-Liverpool in general isn't a rivalry. Rooney's was tarnished because he question someone far far more legendary than himself at the club, and that his eyes were heavily on City.... a real rival. No one really cares about the time he was flirting with.... well, Chelsea, and actually genuinely came closer to leaving, because Chelsea, again, isn't a true rival, to a NW team.
 

Loon

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Nope, lived it, lived it a location where it's a massive mix bag of Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton fans.... it was a rivalry because they met each other a few times in a short span, minor, Chelsea-Liverpool in general isn't a rivalry. Rooney's was tarnished because he question someone far far more legendary than himself at the club, and that his eyes were heavily on City.... a real rival. No one really cares about the time he was flirting with.... well, Chelsea, and actually genuinely came closer to leaving, because Chelsea, again, isn't a true rival, to a NW team.
Still have to disagree because for me there’s loyalty and length of service in these particular examples, but fair enough, mate.
 

Zen

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I'm not overly sure what you are actually disagreeing to be honest. They are different scenarios which I'm pointing out, I'm not bringing in opinions -_-
 

MikeKing

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He will never leave his comfort zone.
True. It's also convenient that he now isn't so comfortable at Barcelona, and it seems like they are trying to portray him as some sort of a dick for being upset and wanting to leave. Well, here at Man Utd we have a 'no asshole policy', so it would practically be impossible for Messi to feel uncomfortable if he chose to come here, and it would also act as proof of him not being an asshole should he choose to do so.
 

Loon

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I originally thought he was just trying to get rid of the Barca president, but there’s seemingly more.
 

Zoo

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Pep will be devastated. Needs Leo to save his reputation on Europe.
 

Suedesi

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Messi to @goal: “I wasn't happy and I wanted to leave. I have not been allowed to leave in any way, and I will STAY at the club so that I do not get into a legal dispute. The management of the club led by Bartomeu is a disaster"


Full Interview

“When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama,” Messi told Goal.

“The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools.

“But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.

“At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out.”

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not,” he said.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”

“There was another way and it was to go to trial," he added. “I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived.

“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.

“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”

“Mateo is still little and he doesn't realise what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere,” he said.

“Thiago, he is older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.

“I didn't want him to know anything about being forced to leave, to have to live in a new school, or make new friends.

“He cried to me and said ‘let's not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.

“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.

“I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.

“My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.

“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”

“I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I've been telling him that all year. I believed it was time to step aside”

“I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.

“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.

“It did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern, no – I had been thinking about the decision for a long time.

“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”

“Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to leave, that the time had come to seek new goals and new directions in my career,” explained Messi. “He told me all the time: ‘We'll talk, not now, this and that’, but nothing. The president did not give me a clue at what he was really saying.

“Sending the burofax was making it official that I wanted to go and that I was free and the optional year – I was not going to use it and I wanted to go.

“It was not to make a mess, or to go against the club, but the way to make it official because my decision had been made.”

He added: “If I don't send the burofax, it's like nothing happens, I have the optional year I had to have continued all year.

“What they say is that I did not say it before June 10 – but I repeat, we were in the middle of all the competitions and it was not the moment.

"But apart from that, the president always told me 'when the season is over, you decide if you stay or leave', he never set a date, and well, it was simply to make it official that I wouldn't continue, but not to start a fight because I didn't want to fight against the club."

“Of course I had a hard time deciding. It does not come from the Bayern result, it comes from many things,” he stressed. “I always said I wanted to end here and I always said I wanted to stay here. That I wanted a winning project and to win titles with the club, to continue expanding the legend of Barcelona.

“And the truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by. As I said before, I always thought about the welfare of my family and the club."

“I will continue at Barca and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have wanted to go,I will do my best.

“I always want to win, I'm competitive and I don't like to lose anything. I always want the best for the club, for the dressing room and for myself."

“I said it at the time that we were not given the support to win the Champions League," the Argentine added. "Actually, now I don't know what will happen. There is a new coach and new ideas.

“That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and whether or not it will give us to compete at the top level. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best for Barcelona.”

"I didn't feel alone, not alone. There are those who have always been by my side. That is enough for me and strengthens me.

“But I did feel hurt by things that I heard from people, from journalists, from people questioning my commitment to Barcelona and saying things that I think I didn't deserve. It also helped me to see the truth in people.

“This world of football is very difficult and there are many fake people. This happening has helped me to recognise many fake people. It hurt me when my love for this club was questioned.

“No matter how much I go or stay, my love for Barca will never change."

“It has hurt me a lot that things are published against me and above all, that false things are published," Messi said. "Or that they came to think that I could go to trial against Barca in order to benefit myself.

“I would never do such a thing. I repeat, I wanted to go and it was entirely my right, because the contract said that I could be released. And it is not, 'I'm leaving and that's it'. I was leaving and it cost me a lot.

“I wanted to go because I thought about living my last years of football happily. Lately I have not found happiness within the club.”

"I always put the club before anything else. I had the possibility of leaving Barca many times," Messi said.

“Every year I could have left and earned more money than at Barcelona. I always said that this was my home and it was what I felt and feel."

“To decide there was somewhere better than here was difficult. I felt that I needed a change and new goals, new things”.

"As usual, I am going to give my best, we will do my best to fight for all the objectives and hopefully I can dedicate myself to the people who have had a bad time," Messi said.

“I had a bad time this year, but it is hypocritical to say that if you compare it with people who have really had a bad time with the coronavirus, with people who have lost relatives and who have lost many things.

“Hopefully I can give my best and dedicate victories to all those people who accompany us and their families, to be able to dedicate the best to those people who are having a bad time and that we can overcome once and for all we can overcome this virus and return to normality."
 

Luke1995

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It will be interesting to see what happens after this new season is over. There could be a new president after that. Will he still want to leave ? We shall see!

But it does seem like Luis Suarez will leave now, I guess ?
 

Daysleeper

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It will be interesting to see what happens after this new season is over. There could be a new president after that. Will he still want to leave ? We shall see!

But it does seem like Luis Suarez will leave now, I guess ?
yes, Suarez is off to Juventus
 

RoyH1

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The biggest player in club history comes out saying openly that the president holds against his will and that there hasn't been a proper sporting project in a long time. And still they keep him. What a circus. Really true that with Mes que un meme.
 

Daysleeper

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The biggest player in club history comes out saying openly that the president holds against his will and that there hasn't been a proper sporting project in a long time. And still they keep him. What a circus. Really true that with Mes que un meme.
have you seen their twitter?


Completely spinning it and then then top story on their website is “Coutinho Returns to Training” hahahahaha

Messi always wanted to leave and no one can blame him
 

Acrobat7

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Barca paying a player that doesn’t want to be there and will leave for free in 10 months €100m is just delightful.

ps, maybe his mate Suarez now stays as well? :drool:
 

chicha14

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I truly hope Amazon are not behind this for another one of their documentaries: "Messi is so great he even beats Barcelona"