Lionel Messi leaving could be devasating news for FC Barcelona

Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer player in the world. His team, Barcelona FC, has been a competitive & winning franchise since Messi was acquired. However, Barcelona FC has recently begun to slip and is showing signs of needing a rebuild. Most recently, the club suffered an 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich – an absolute blowout. 

Barcelona has no chance at becoming a playoff team, and Messi is looking to play somewhere better. Messi leaving FC Barcelona would be devastating news for the franchise. Here are some reasons why. 

Signs of a FC Barcelona rebuild

Neymar was the first elite player on FC Barcelona who took his talents elsewhere, specifically to PSG (Paris Saint-Germain FC). Messi’s departure would be the final straw for a team on the brink of collapse.

Seeing Messi leave would be a wake up call for fans that FC Barcelona is no longer an elite team. A rebuild is always tough for a team and fans to go through – the process to become great once again can take quite a while. 

Lionel Messi the next Tom Brady?

Messi has been a member of FC Barcelona for his entire twenty-season career, bringing greatness to the team throughout. Seeing the soccer pitch star in a different jersey would bring any hardcore FC Barcelona fan to tears (staining their Messi jerseys). Barcelona Fans would love to see Messi retire as a Barcelona legend instead. 

A similar situation is happening this year in American football with Quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has spent his entire career with the New England Patriots, with six Super Bowl rings, having led the team to victory from behind the line of scrimmage. This season, Brady is taking his talents to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the visceral pain Patriots fans feel seeing Brady repping another team’s jersey is palpable. 

Court

Messi informed the team that he wanted to leave on Aug. 25, 2020; however, FC Barcelona’s staff informed the forward that if he wants to leave before the next season, the deadline to tell Barcelona would have landed on June 10th. Odds are that the 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich spurred a sense of desperation in Messi to bail on the failing franchise. 

While there is a clause in his contract that allows Messi to walk free, the athlete’s failure to express his desire to leave before the deadline could cost him up to €700 million. What will determine whether Messi pays or not could come down to some detailed legalese in that all-important contract.

If the contract says June 10th was a hard deadline, Messi would be legally bound to that date. However, if the language is more vague, there could be more wiggle room for Messi to leave the team without the exorbitant fee. If the case ends up in civil court, it would be depressing for fans to see a FC Barcelona legend getting into a legal battle with their favored team. 

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Messi is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to play futbol and deserves all the acclaim and success he’s received. None of us would like to see him leave a team he’s dedicated his career to thus far, especially in such a litigious way. Hopefully, FC Barcelona & Messi can work things out – so the forward can leave the team with grace.