Lionel Messi hands in Barcelona transfer request

Legendary Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has asked to leave this summer.
The Argentina international, 33, sent a fax to the club on Tuesday saying he wishes to exercise a clause in his contract, allowing him to leave for free with immediate effect.Barca were beaten 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals on 16 August.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner made his debut for Barca in 2004 and has won the Champions League four times.
Barcelona, though, believe the clause has now expired and Messi is contracted to the club until 2021 with a 700m euro buy-out clause.
The board will meet soon and some consider the only thing that could placate Messi is the resignation of the president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and early elections. But Messi seems determined to leave the club no matter what.
After the news broke, Barca fans gathered outside the Nou Camp to protest against the board and in support of the club’s record goalscorer.
A legal battle is now set to follow between the club and the player. Messi had a clause in his contract which allowed him to leave for free, if he informed the club of his desire before 10 June.
That date has now passed so Barca believe the clause has expired, but Messi and his team feel it should be extended to cover the prolonged season – which ran until August due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Respect and admiration, Leo. All my support, friend,” Messi’s former team-mate Carles Puyol tweeted, to which current team-mate Luis Suarez replied with two clapping emojis.
Messi the record breaker
Messi joined Barcelona aged 13 from Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys in 2000, and has since scored a club record 634 goals in 731 appearances. He has won 34 major trophies with the club, including 10 La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies. Here are some more records he holds:
 Most goals scored in La Liga (444)
 Most Ballons d’Or in history and most Fifa World Player of the Year/Best Fifa Men’s Player Awards (6)
 Top goalscorer in all club competitions in a calendar year: 79 goals in 2012
 Only player to score more than 40 goals in 10 consecutive seasons
 Most goals scored for a single club in the Champions League (115)
– BBC News