FC Barcelona Reveals Its Stance On Lionel Messi Leaving The Club

FC Barcelona has revealed that it is pulling all the strings within its reach to make sure the club’s star player, Lionel Messi stays put at the club.

mNaija.com had earlier reported that the Argentine international had handed in a transfer request to the Spanish outfit, officially announcing his desire to leave the club where he has so far played his entire professional career.

Messi, 33, has a contract with the club until 2021 but has grown disappointed with events on and off the pitch at Camp Nou in recent months, and on Tuesday, submitted a transfer request to the club.

However, FC Barcelona’s Technical Secretary Ramon Planes has declared that the club is making every effort to convince Messi to stay, adding that they want to build the club around him.

“We want to build another winning cycle alongside the best player in the world. We all continue to count on Messi.

“We are not contemplating a departure of Messi. We want Messi to stay.

“We are working internally to convince Messi to stay. Messi has not told us that he’s not going to show up for training,” he said.

Meanwhile, the football club has revealed that  any club interested in signing Messi must be ready to break the bank for the player in order to activate his £631million release clause.