Leo Messi openly declared war on FC Barcelona this Sunday. Until now everything had been framed within a pulse of papers and lawyers, in the form of burofaxes, where each party presented their arguments: Messi announcing his desire to leave the club and Barcelona communicating that it is non-transferable.
However, this morning he has climbed several steps in the open conflict between the two. And it is that Leo, who was summoned at 10.15 am to go to the Ciutat Esportiva to pass the PCR test, fulfilled his threat and did not appear for the tests, an unavoidable step to start training with the first team on Monday. In fact, his close friend, Luis Suárez, attended at 10:05 a.m. alone and with a face of circumstances.
Messi's absence in control of covid 19 It automatically assumes that he will not be present this Monday in the first training session of the Ronald Koeman era, scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Evidence that his decision to leave the club is now irrevocable and that he will act assuming all the consequences.
Right now the situation seems difficult to solve if it is not with the departure of the player. The problem is the way it will turn out because Josep Maria Bartomeu does not want to remain for the annals of history as the president who sold the best player in the world. Messi and his lawyers want to get the unilateral release clause considering that the deadline for requesting it was ten days after the end of the season, on August 25, while the club refers to the date that marks the contract, June 10, to cancel that clause if it was not made effective.
From here, the snowball has grown exponentially, to the point that the Blaugrana president leaked that he would be willing to resign if with that decision he managed to get Messi to stay. A position clearly facing the gallery: the president knew that the Argentine's decision is immovable.
Right now, the club has two exits: open a file of serious sanction to the player for not attending the PCR tests or tomorrow at the first training session of the preseason or start the relevant negotiations to open the way towards a consensual exit.