The hottest and the latest in the latest flurry of headlines since Barcelona’s catastrophic defeat to Bayern Munich is reportedly Lionel Messi’s telling the Barcelona board he wants to leave the club immediately in the wake of their Champions League failure.
This would then put Man City in pole position to land the Argentine megastar and Barca talisman in a stunning transfer that would leave the entire football world with mouths agape and eyes a-ga-ga.
Messi cut a desolate figure on the night of the Barca debacle as his side were soundly and unmistakably thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in their Champions League quarter-final. For Barca, it definitely wasn’t a Thank-God-it-s-Friday night as it was a total disaster for the Catalonian giants.
This humbling and humiliating massacre has precipitated in Messi considering his future – and Esporte Interativo now claim that he wants an immediate exit having grown frustrated at the lack of planning at the club, saying that Messi now feels ‘isolated’ after repeated failings in the Champions League and their frustration in La Liga, having been pipped to the title by arch-rivals Real Madrid.
The news comes right in the wake of the Sunday Mirror exclusive revealing that Manchester City are in pole position to land Messi if he leaves the Nou Camp.
With this latest report of Messi’s intention to leave the Blaugrana immediately, City’s stance on the 32-year-old remains steadfast that they will be at the front of the queue if the six-time Ballon d’Or winner decides to finally depart the Nou Camp and seek a new challenge.
Messi has spent a year trying to come to grips with the embattled state of affairs in Barca, especially in battling Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the Nou Camp hierarchy on the direction the club is heading.