08/15/2020 - 15:41
- Clarín.com
- sports
He said nothing. He did not cry out to heaven as in recent times, nor was he frustrated as in other sporting stumbles. Lionel Messi did not speak. The images that remain are with the gaze at the floor, on the court and in the dressing room. Scenes of personal desolation but even more of a collective disaster. The label at the end of the cycle has already been attached several times to a Barcelona that has been fraying in recent years that dream image that it built during the era that Pep Guardiola commanded.
The Catalan coach has not been around for a long time and his replacements, of varied styles, with powerful posters or with the values of the house, did not manage to rearm a structure and release that time of glory to seek a new path. Not only did Pep leave. Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and so many other second guitars that today have central pieces are not there. Gerard Piqué, always audacious before the microphones, was first in line for decongestion. He raised his hand and offered his way out if that could help the collective benefit. And Messi?
There are some concrete data, many versions and the same amount of speculation. The specific information is in his contract, which expires in July 2021. The Argentine could have used an exit clause (he had time to notify the club until March 2020) but he did not. In the same way, he could have sat down to negotiate the extension of his bond in one of the opportunities that President José Maria Bartomeu sought him out, eager to show the world the longed-for signing of Leo for life with the club.
Messi did not give him the pleasure. He didn't give her the photo. What's more, he turned his back on him and left him exposed with his statements about the present of a squad that is badly reinforced and that, it was evident, was not at the height of being able to lift the Champions League, the goal of all.
What is Messi's contract like? Although the numbers were never released, the agreement that Leo signed in June 2017 stipulated the possibility of terminating every June 30. As it transpired, the exit had to be given by mutual agreement and with a prior notice margin until May that would not leave the club typing. "The relationship is based on loyalty," they say. And that is why they allowed him to include a clause similar to the one used by Xavi, to go to Qatar, or Iniesta to continue his career in China.
According to the newspaper El País, Messi's latest renewal demanded “six face-to-face meetings and an infinity of phone calls.” And it was never captured in a photo between Leo and Bartomeu.
Only in November, four months later in November, the club showed the signature of the Rosario. Through a statement without many details, they announced again that the contract of 10 was until 2021 and that the termination clause went from 250 million (it had been set in the fifth renewal of the Argentine in 2009) to 700. Although they did not specify by how much it had increased your salary.
In Spain they affirm that the next few days and the decisions that come out of the Board of Directors meeting that will take place on Monday after the humiliating elimination of the Champions League will be decisive to begin to draw the future of Messi.
At that meeting, Bartomeu should define, among other things, on what date the presidential elections will be held and who is the replacement for Quique Setién, who will be officially dismissed.
Meanwhile, rumors flourish. That his father bought a house in Milan and Inter is going to charge as the former president of the club, Massimo Moratti, said this Saturday. That Pep Guardiola could shelter him at Manchester City with his friend Kun Agüero. That PSG could be the most seductive economic card. That MLS looms as an exotic chance of respite to prepare for the Qatar World Cup, one of its last great challenges. That the dream of playing at Newell's does not disappear ...
Messi for now chose silence. His face, in the locker room and on the court, said it all. The break is already given. Changes will be inevitable, from the leadership to the squad, through the coaching staff. It remains to know what Leo chooses to do in this new scenario that appears. If you want to be part of the rebuilding or if you choose to jump into a new challenge. That is the question.