Barcelona are worried about Lionel Messi’s release clause

Posted Friday, March 09, 2018 by squawka.com

Barcelona director Pancho Schroder says the £625 million buyout clause in Lionel Messi‘s contract might not be enough to retain him.

The 30-year-old forward penned a new deal last November which should keep him at the Camp Nou through to the end of the 2020/21 season.

Barcelona are worried about Lionel Messi’s release clause

However, following the events before this season when Paris Saint-Germain activated Neymar’s £198 million buyout clause, Schroder who serves as Barça’s financial and strategy director is not ruling anything out.

"We set up a clause which we think is enough to have Messi retire at FC Barcelona,” he told a Finance in Sport event in London, as reported by Sky Sports.

"But having said that, we thought a year ago that the clause for Neymar was also good enough to retain the player, and that proved last summer not to be the case.

"Looking at the future, I think, is difficult, but I don’t have a crystal ball and these days things are getting a little bit crazy.”

The story of Messi

Since breaking into Barça first-team under Frank Rijkaard in 2004, the Argentine has gone on to amass an incredible 539 goals, as well as creating a further 245, in 624 appearances.

Goalscoring and creating aside, his all-round play earned him five Ballon d’Or crowns, enabling the Catalan giants to eight La Liga titles and four European Cups.

Barcelona are worried about Lionel Messi’s release clause

Widely considered an all-time great it’s hard to see him playing for another giant of European football given the emotional connection he’s built in Spain’s second largest city

There’s always the option of being a one-club man, but Messi seems genuinely sincere when promising in the past he will put on childhood team Newell’s Old Boys colours for the first time as a senior professional.