Barca Board Members Want Argentine Out As PSG Safe £205m buy-out clause

Lionel Messi believes Barcelona now see him as a saleable asset and not their untouchable star player, according to well-informed Catalan sports channel Esport3.

The incredible development in stalled contract talks between player and club explain why Messi has reached a stand-off with Barcelona.

The suggestion is that certain members of the club’s board believe the player is now worth more to them in the transfer market than on the pitch, that Messi is aware of this, and that he believes it is behind Barcelona’s reluctance to improve his current contract which runs out in 2018.

Paris Saint-Germain would be willing to pay the player’s £205million buy-out clause, and with plans for a new stadium likely to set Barcelona back £493m, there are certain influences within the club who believe this could be the time to do the unthinkable and cash on a player who has been at Barcelona since he was 13.

Messi wants to stay at Barcelona until he feels the time is right for a South American swansong at his first ever club, Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, but Barcelona’s dithering could bring forward the date of his departure and open the doors to a new European adventure at PSG or even at Manchester City.

Current Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu wanted to tie Messi down to a new deal before the World Cup but the player is understood to want £20.5m a year and the club want half of his image rights, currently all due the player.

His poor showings in the Champions League quarter-finals and the Spanish Cup final have made the board think for the first time that they could at least raise the possibility of entertaining offers with the club’s supporters.