Lionel Messi Makes Surprising Decision on Playing for Barcelona

Lionel Messi will play for a new team. On Thursday, Barcelona announced the soccer superstar will [...]

By Brian Jones

Lionel Messi will play for a new team. On Thursday, Barcelona announced the soccer superstar will leave the club after financial issues preventing them from agreeing with him on a new contract. Messi has been a free agent since the end of June when his contract expired. There was an agreement for a five-year extension, but Barcelona was not able to register the new contract with LaLiga while complying with the league's financial fair play rules.

"Despite having reached an agreement with Messi and with both parties clearly wanting to sign a new contract, it cannot be finalised due to financial and structural problems [rules relating to the Spanish league]," Barcelona said in a statement, per ESPN. "Given this situation, Messi will not continue his relationship with Barcelona. Both parties lament deeply that the desires of the player and the club cannot be met. "Barca would like to wholeheartedly thank the player for his contribution to the growth of the institution and wish him the best in his personal and professional life."

According to ESPN, Paris Saint-Germain is ready to add Messi to the roster if he does leave Barcelona. However, the team is not sure if he's really leaving the team as this could be bluff by his former team. Paris Saint-Germain has reportedly been working on a deal for Messi for weeks which would also keep Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Messi attempted to leave Barcelona last summer and a fall out with team president Josep Maria Bartomeu but ended up staying The 34-year believed there was a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave, but Barcelona said that is not the case. And despite president Joan Laporta taking over, Messi was not happy with the work done in the transfer market this summer.

Messi leaving Barcelona is huge considering he has been with the program in some way, shape or form since 2000. He started on the youth squad in 2000 and then moved up the senior team in 2004. In his club career, Messi has scored 672 career goals and led Barcelona to 10 La Liga titles. Messi also led Barcelona to four UEFA Champions League titles and, three FIFA Club World Cup championships.

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