Camp Nou: Lionel Messi has returned to Barcelona training on Monday (September 7) after a failed attempt to force a move away from the club. This is the first time the 33-year-old trained under new coach Ronald Koeman after the Argentine submitted a transfer request on August 25.
Barcelona begin their La Liga campaign against Villarreal on September 27. Messi trained on his own, as did Philippe Coutinho, while the rest of the squad trained together. Messi didn’t even attend the club’s COVID-19 testing on August 30 and has been absent from training since sending fax informing the club of his wish to exercise a clause in his contract which he believed would allow him to leave for free with immediate effect.
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— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 8, 2020
Both Barcelona and La Liga insisted that clause was no longer valid – with any club wishing to buy him required to pay a release clause of 700m euros (£624m). La Liga president Javier Tebas said at the launch of the 2020-21 La Liga season on Monday he was ‘never seriously worried’ Messi would leave Barcelona this summer.
“We want Messi to be with us. He is the best player in the history of football and we want him to end his career in La Liga,” said Tebas. “He has been with us for 20 years and we are so pleased he is staying with us and not going to another league.”
