Lionel Messi News: A clause in the Argentine superstar's contract means he can leave Barcelona at the end of every season

What’s the story?

According to El País, Lionel Messi has a clause in his Barcelona contract which allows him to leave the Catalan giants at the end of every season.

In case you didn’t know...

Often considered to be the best player of this generation and widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, Messi has become synonymous to Barcelona, following his immense contribution to the club over the years.

The mercurial Argentine has spent his entire professional career at Barcelona, where he has won a club record of 34 trophies, including ten La Liga crowns, four Champions League titles and six Copa del Rey trophies. Messi also holds the record for most goals in a Barcelona shirt, with 603 strikes to his name in just 687 appearances for the Blaugranas.

After making his debut for Barcelona back in 2003 under Frank Rijkaard, Messi signed his first contract as a senior team player with the club in 2005. Since then, the Barcelona talisman has had eight contract renewals at the Catalan club. Messi signed his latest contract in November 2017, an agreement that extends his stay at the Camp Nou until 2021.

The heart of the matter

Madrid-based Spanish publication, El País, has recently reported that Messi has a clause in his Barcelona contract which allows him to leave on June 30th at the end of every season.

They have also claimed that the agreement is based upon Messi’s loyalty for Barcelona and they do not fear him negotiating with another club.

It has been also claimed that Barcelona had the same agreement with other club legends like Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol, and they don’t consider this clause as a unique one.

However, as per another report in Carrusel, Messi can only imply this clause if he is leaving Barcelona for another club outside Europe.