The Spanish La Liga has dashed Lionel Messi’s hopes of leaving Barcelona on a free transfer by stating that his release clause is still valid. The Spanish men’s top professional football division announced on Friday that the Argentine superstar must pay 700 million Euros for the release clause if he is to leave Camp Nou.
Messi’s lawyers plan to exercise a clause in his 4-year contract, which would have allowed him to leave the club for free if he had asked to do so by the 10th of June. They will argue that the June date, which was nominally the end of the season, is now irrelevant after the coronavirus delays that led to the season’s extension and the team playing deep into August. The situation began last week when the 6-time Ballon d’Or winner demanded to leave Barca.
