World
Lionel Messi reports for Barcelona training after confirming he will stay
Barcelona’s all-time high scorer Lionel Messi has returned to training following his failed try and drive a transfer away from the membership.
Messi, 33, submitted a switch request on 25 August however mentioned final Friday he would stay as a result of it’s “unattainable” for any workforce to pay his launch clause.
It’s the first time the Argentine has skilled together with his team-mates for the reason that arrival of latest supervisor Ronald Koeman.
Barcelona start their La Liga marketing campaign towards Villarreal on 27 September.
Messi didn’t attend the membership’s testing for Covid-19 on 30 August and has been absent from training since sending a fax informing the membership of his want to train a clause in his contract which he believed would enable him to depart for free with rapid impact.
Each Barcelona and La Liga insisted that clause was now not legitimate – with any membership wishing to purchase him required to pay a launch clause of 700m euros (£624m).
La Liga president Javier Tebas mentioned on the launch of the 2021-21 La Liga season on Monday he was “by no means significantly frightened” Messi would depart Barcelona this summer time.
“We wish Messi to be with us. He’s the very best participant within the historical past of soccer and we would like him to finish his profession in La Liga,” mentioned Tebas.
“He has been with us for 20 years and we’re so happy he is staying with us and never going to a different league.”