Barcelona want out, Lionel Messi has agreed to financial terms with Manchester City that if his exit from the Catalans is successful, it would see him rake up €700 million (£623m/$834m) over five years, claims the Daily Record.
As part of the agreement, the Argentine forward has also been offered an equity stake in City Football Group as part of the deal with Messi expected to spend three years in Manchester before moving to MLS side New York City FC.
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Meanwhile, Barcelona team mate Frenkie de Jong has also revealed that Lionel Messi remains in Barcelona players’ WhatsApp group chat despite recently asking to leave the club.
Messi recently revealed his intention to leave Barcelona, with the likes of Inter, Paris Saint-Germainand, most prominently, Manchester City linked to the Argentinian star.
In the week since Messi’s announcement shook the football landscape, he has done little to reverse that initial request as he reportedly continues to insist that his time at Barca is over.
The club, meanwhile, have been determined to hold onto their star while La Liga backed Barca by stating that Messi can only leave if his €700 million (£624m/$823m) release clause is met or if another club negotiates a lower transfer fee with the Camp Nou outfit.
Messi has already skipped the start of the club’s pre-season as the forward and his team believe that his contract has expired, meaning that he is free to do as he pleases and join another club.
De Jong says that, as far as he is concerned, Messi remains a part of the group, even if he has not been a part of the start of 2020-21 training.
“I hope that Messi is still there when I get back, but that is not something that is up to me. He’s still in the group chat,” the midfielder told Fox Sports.
“I’m not anyone to talk about it with him, I’m sure he has many people around him doing that these days.”
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