The future of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has been intentionally speculated in the last few weeks with reports suggesting that the Argentine may finally look to conclude his career with the Catalan club. Teams like Paris St Germain, Manchester City, and Chelsea are thought to be monitoring the situation. The 27-year-old has been at Barcelona throughout his career and he is on the verge of breaking numerous more records. Messi appears to have fallen from the incredible heights that he hit a few years ago. After scoring close to 100 goals in a calendar year, the Argentine finds himself with only 15 goals from 22 games.
This may seem as an incredible statistics for every other player, but when put against the competition that includes Cristiano Ronaldo, it is rather low. Messi has been signing new contracts with Barcelona almost every season. The Catalan club have been keen to not allow him to leave under any condition, although it is believed that he has a £ 200 million release clause in his contract. Due to the FFP regulations from UEFA, it is highly unlikely that any club will be interested in paying this amount of money for one player. Manager Luis Enrique said ahead of the match with Sevilla that he has not spoken with Messi.
“When I’ve listened to Messi he says he is happy at Barça, I don’t want to talk about speculation, I know that he is very happy here, he’s very proud to defend the Barça and shirt that’s the only thing I care about. I didn’t speak with Leo about his statement, I don’t talk with my players about what they say, I didn’t speak with him about it.For me there’s no Leo Messi case, the fans will congratulate the team as they have done during the season,” said Enrique.