A small group of Barcelona fans have gathered outside the club’s training ground to hurl abuse at players following the announcement of Lionel Messi’s departure.
Barça shocked the footballing world on Thursday night as they confirmed their all-time record goalscorer would not be signing a new deal, subsequently bringing to an end his 21-year stay at Camp Nou.
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The Blaugrana revealed financial restraints have prevented Messi from remaining at Barcelona, with Cuatro reporting a handful of the club’s fans have now taken it upon themselves to direct abuse at players as they arrived for training on Friday following the news.
Both Antoine Griezmann and Jordi Alba were the victims of said abuse, with supporters seemingly unhappy that the pair’s eye-watering wages had played a part in Barcelona being unable to commit to a deal for Messi – y’know, instead of directing their frustration at the mad club who actually handed out the ridiculous deals in the first place.
Club president Joan Laporta has already moved to extinguish hopes that Messi could in fact still sign a deal at Barcelona, claiming he does not want to keep ‘prolonging the agony’ by suggesting there’s a chance a deal could still be done before confirming the superstar forward already has offers from other clubs.
With Barça already keen to look to the future, the question remains as to where Messi will be playing his football next season.
Paris Saint-Germain have made no secret of their desire to bring Messi to Ligue 1, though the news Manchester City are not interested in pursuing a deal has now been quashed by reports suggesting they’ve already tabled an offer.
Should Barcelona retire the No.? shirt?
— 90min (@90min_Football) August 5, 2021
The City Football Group are understood to have offered the Argentina international a three-year deal – two years of which would be played in the Premier League with City before moving to MLS with New York City for the final year of his contract.
With so many clubs likely to be linked to Messi over the coming weeks, this one could be a saga that rumbles on for some time before we finally have an answer to who he’ll be representing next season.
