Lionel Messi Free to Leave Barcelona at End of Each Season as Contract Clause Is Revealed

Lionel Messi can leave FC Barcelona whenever he
chooses to according to a clause in his contract
with the club. Messi’s contract with Barcelona
expires in 2021 but the Argentinian can choose to
move away before that as well.
Messi had signed a new four-year deal with
Barcelona in 2017 that increased his release
clause to €700m but according to a report in El
Pais, Messi can depart from Camp Nou completely
on his own terms at the end of any season.

Lionel Messi is allowed to choose when he leaves
Barcelona thanks to a clause in his contract at the
Camp Nou, meaning he could walk away before it
expires in 2021.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner first joined
Barcelona 19 years ago and has gone on to make
687 appearances across all competitions and is
comfortably their all-time record goalscorer ahead
of César Rodríguez.
Messi put pen to paper on a new four-year contract
in 2017 which more than doubled his release
clause to €700m, but El País claims that there’s
another clause which gives the Argentine complete
freedom over his future.
According to their report, Messi is free to walk
away from Barcelona on his own terms at the end
of any given season.
That means that while Messi has a contract with
the club until 2021, he could leave Catalonia for
nothing next summer, although there’s no evidence
to suggest that he’ll be considering that over the
course of this season.
Additionally, previous reports have also claimed that
Messi has clause in his contract which will be
activated in 2020 which stipulates he may leave the
club for nothing should he choose to join a ‘non-
elite club’ – meaning he could follow in the
footsteps of former teammates Xavi and Andres
Iniesta, who departed for Qatar and Japan
respectively.

Making his debut for Barcelona in 2004, Messi has
scored 603 goals throughout his career, as well as
claiming 242 assists.
He hasn’t been able to add to his tally so far this
season due to injury, but Messi could still be in
with a chance of overtaking club legend Xavi as the
player with the most number of appearances for the
Blaugrana – he’s 82 behind the Spaniard.
During Messi’s absence, new signing Antoine
Griezmann has taken his time to make an impact
with Barcelona, scoring two goals in three games
as the club sits in eighth place in the league table.