It’s a fact: Lionel Messi wants to leave Barcelona. According to Marca of Spain and TyC Sports of Argentina, the six-time Ballon d’Or has already sent a statement to the club telling his decision to leave now.
Messi has been in Barcelona for more than 20 years and now, it will be time to finally see him playing for another club. The 33-year-old Argentinian is still considered one of the best players – if not the best- in the history of the game.
His decision gives a new problem to Barcelona and their new manager Ronald Koeman, who was already planning his new Barcelona squad. However, thischanges everything, and Koeman will have to deal with the fact that he won’t have Messi fornext season.
Emergency meeting called at Barcelona after Messi’s statement
After the catastrophic 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals, rumors werethatMessi’s future at Barcelona was in doubt. Now that he made the decision to leave Barcelona, the club committee called for an emergency meeting to solve this problem.
Now that Marca and TyC Sports confirmed that Messi sent a statement to the club, Koeman and Barcelona PresidentJosep Maria Bartomeu will have to solve this issue and find a way to replace the best soccer player in Barcelona’s history.
Lionel Messi’s reasons to leave Barcelona
Lionel Meesi has always said that Barcelona ishis home, but it’s also true that the team hasn’t been the same since a couple of seasons now. The team’s poor Champions League performances in the last couple of years put Messi’s future in doubt many times.
Now, RonaldKoeman took charge of the team and he has already made some changes. One of them was to sideline Luis Suárez, Messi’s good friend and attacking partner. Who could replace world class players such as Messi and Suárez? That will be Koeman’s job now.