The new era of Leo Messi at Barcelona begins this afternoon at 5:30 p.m.. At that time the first training session of the week is scheduled after last Friday the Argentine player stated in an interview that he would continue one more season at the club because he did not contemplate the option of taking the entity to court.
After that announcement, Messi did not appear at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper de Sant Joan Despí on Saturday and on Sunday Ronald Koeman had decreed a day off. It remains to be seen if Messi has passed the PCR test that LaLiga requires all players before joining training.
The mystery is that neither from within the club nor from the player's environment they know for sure, or do not want to say, if the Argentine has passed this step prior to joining. What is certain is that he did not pass the test at the club's facilities. Therefore, the only possibility that he will train today at the Ciutat Esportiva is that he would have passed it at home.
But it is not ruled out that Messi will appear today at the club's training facilities to pass control and postpone his incorporation into the team's dynamic, which would be gradual. Messi would begin to work alone and throughout the days he would begin to join the rest of the players who have a week ahead of their preparation compared to their captain.
In the coach's plans is that the Argentine can play at least a few minutes in the first preseason game of Barça next Saturday at the Johan Cruyff stadium against Nàstic de Tarragona.
This will be the second time that Messi and Koeman have met face to face. The first was in the meeting held at the player's home in which Messi told Koeman to “I felt more outside than inside the club”. From there the storm of the burofax was unleashed in which the player announced that he felt liberated from the contract that united him to the Blaugrana club although a week later he rectified.
After talking with Messi, the coach began to come to the idea that he should carry out a project without the Argentine player, which in the end has not happened. However, Koeman will have to talk to Messi again, whose displeasure with the board is evident, and make a plan for the Argentine to focus solely on what happens on the pitch.
In favor of Koeman plays the fact the competitive capacity of the Argentine, that he always goes out to win and this was stated in the interview in which he announced that he would stay one more season while harshly criticizing the board.
Today will also be the day that Messi will meet again with some teammates who have been waiting to see how Leo's problem with the board was solved and who did not know if they could have the most decisive player next season.
Today, Messi will return to the dynamics of the group, either to pass the test or to start getting fit in the season that marks the beginning of a new era for the Argentine star at Barcelona, who It will never be the same again after everything that happened.