Messi confirms stay on at Barcelona in lieu of 700m euro release clause

Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer Lionel Messi says he is staying on at the club because he cannot see himself paying a release clause worth 700 million euros.

There has been talk of possible teams buying him out but the release clause has stoppered any hopes of that.

Messi called it “impossible” for any team to pay that amount.

Without it, he could face his club in court.

Messi had wanted to exercise a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave for free.

Barcelona insisted the 700 million release clause would have to be met

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave,” Messi told Goal.

“The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before 10 June, when it turns out that on 10 June we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the 700m clause, and that this is impossible.”