- Title: Madrid soccer fans divided over Messi's departure
- Date: 6th August 2021
- Summary: 'MARCA' FRONT PAGE READING (Spanish) "BARCA LET MESSI ESCAPE"
- Embargoed: 20th August 2021 09:57
- Keywords: Barca FCB Madrid Messi Spain football reax soccer
- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- City: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Europe,Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA003EP57SCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Madrid soccer fans were divided over Leo Messi's departure on Friday (August 6) after Barcelona announced the Argentinean will leave the club.
"I hope he continues to delight us, I really like the way he plays, we must recognize that he has a special talent," said Real Madrid fan and newsstand owner Roberto at Sol square.
Messi, now 34, had been expected to sign a new five-year deal, but negotiations fell apart at the last hurdle on Thursday (August 5) night, with the club blaming financial restrictions imposed by La Liga.
"If Messi doesn't know how to be grateful for what has happened to him here in Barcelona, he'd better leave," said soccer fan Hernan Cortez.
Messi, who joined Barcelona aged 13, is the club's all-time top scorer, helping them claim 10 league titles, four Champions Leagues and three Club World Cups during a glittering career.
Full page photographs of the six-time Ballon d'Or winner were splashed across the front pages of Spain's newspapers.
"Barcelona used to be Messi and they have lost him, they are no longer Barcelona. It's not the same anymore," said Barca fan Inder.
With debts of more than 1 billion euros, Barcelona would have needed financial restructuring to resign Messi, whose last contract in 2017, was the most lucrative in world sport, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
However, they failed to sufficiently reduce their wage bill to stay within La Liga's Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
The Argentine's next move remains unclear, and for now he is without a club ahead of the 2021-2022 season.
He has long been linked with a move to Manchester City, where he would be reunited with his former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola or France's Paris St Germain, which according to The Athletic, has already made overtures.
Still, some observers believe that the announcement of Messi's departure is actually Barca boldly calling La Liga's bluff over its FFP rules.
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