Revealed: FC Barcelona’s Firm Reasons Not To Sell Lionel Messi

Other than him being the best player in the world, there are plenty of reasons why FC Barcelona don’t want to sell Lionel Messi.

In a shock development on Tuesday evening, the captain sent a burofax to the Camp Nou stating his wish to end a 20-year relationship with the club.

Believing he could exercise a clause in his contract that allows him to terminate at the end of each season, Barça argue that this expired on June 10 while his lawyers point to the disruption of La Liga’s 2019/2020 term due to the coronavirus pandemic as reason enough for a shifting of the goal posts.

Keen to avoid a legal battle, then, Messi has apparently insisted that the Blaugrana sell before his current deal officially winds down next summer, and offload him to a new money outfit such as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in exchange for cash and players.

Adamant that they will not surrender their charge for anything less than his monstrous €700mn release clause, though, there are plenty of motives for Barça not to let Messi walk – even if it means losing him on a free this time next year.

Firstly, Messi is a cornerstone of new head coach Ronald Koeman’s project for the upcoming season and has been told so by the Dutchman.

And though Bartomeu is probably aware of being Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of Catalan fans and the Culer masses around the world, he does not wish to be remembered as the one who let Messi get away prematurely.

Even if they lose him free of charge in the near future, letting him go now to a continental rival is unthinkable, and would also give off a sign of weakness that Barça are indeed a fading superpower – as first indicated by allowing PSG to snatch Neymar in 2017.

In terms of ticket sales, if stadiums will be open to fans any time soon, and merchandise, Barça would also further lose out financially if Messi were to depart 10 months earlier than scheduled.

The two parties set to meet as soon as this weekend, once the Ballon d’Or winner’s father Jorge has arrived in Rosario, hard negotiations will play out throughout FC Barcelona’s preparation under Koeman to reclaim the Spanish top flight title.