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Lionel Messi transfer dilemma pointed out by lawyer as key Barcelona exit date identified
Lionel Messi has told Barcelona that he intends to leave the club this summer.
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Lionel Messi faces a huge problem in his quest to leave Barcelona, according to a top Spanish sports lawyer who says the Argentine has demanded his transfer away from Catalonia three weeks too late.
Messi told Barca officials earlier this week that he no longer wanted to play for the club, and he's expecting to leave for free.
The 33-year-old had a clause in his contract which would allow him to do that, so long as he'd communicated his decision with Barca on June 10, 20 days before the end of the season.
Messi, however, made his intentions clear on August 25, which he reportedly feels is fine because the season was extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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But according to Francisco Dominguez, a prominent sports lawyer in Spain, he struggles to see how Messi has a leg to stand on in this situation.
Dominguez says that even if the season had been extended to August, the final day of the campaign was on August 23 - when the Champions League final took place.
And that if Messi was to tell Barcelona his decision on any provisional date, it should have been August 3, 20 days before the end of the season like set out in the original contract.
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“Messi as a player has really got a problem," Dominguez told The Athletic.
"He is arguing that, due to COVID, the clause of the contract should not apply to the date of June 10 and therefore should be extended.
"So, the club received the burofax on August 25.
"The clause in the contract is June 10 and the end of the season contractually is June 30, when contracts usually end, marking the end of the season.
"This, therefore, means a 20-day period before the “end” of the season.
"Therefore, we know he has notified the club too late, according to the original date, by withdrawing from his contract in August.
"Even then, if we then accept circumstances have changed because of the pandemic, we can then say the season ends on August 23, the day of the Champions League final.
"As such, I would argue he needed to send the burofax 20 days before the season ended and he did not do this on August 3. So it means the player is wrong, to me, in any case.
"I cannot understand the position of Messi under the law. It is incredible. I am talking about my opinion.
"Nobody I have spoken to in Europe — and I have spoken to a lot of legal colleagues — understands Messi’s position.”