Spanish football authorities, La Liga have announced that Lionel Messi’s 700m euros (£624m) release clause must be met by clubs who wants to sign the Argentine forward.
It would be recalled that Messi, 33, informed the club on Tuesday that he wished to leave
and did not attend a pre-season medical on Sunday.
The Argentina forward plans to invoke a clause that would allow him to depart the
club for free but Barcelona argue the deadline for that has expired.
Spain’s top-flight competition La Liga now says it will not de-register the player unless the clause is met.
“In compliance with the applicable rule, La Liga will not approve a request to be de-registered as a player with the Spanish football federation, unless the amount in the release clause has been paid,” the body said in a statement.
Messi was due at Barcelona’s training ground at 10.15am local time on Sunday but did not attend.
The player’s lawyers plan to exercise a clause in his four-year contract, signed in
2017, which would have allowed him to leave the club for free if he had
requested to do so by 10 June.
Lionel ehave become the greatest player to ever wear a Barcelona shirt as fans were spotted outside their stadium protesting just hours after he dropped his transfer request.
