Highlights:
- FC Barcelona’s Presidential candidate Emili Rousaud says Messi will be pushed out of the club
- Rousaud said if the Argentine does not accept a pay cut, the club will have to let him go
- After the 2019-20 campaign, Lionel Messi shocked the world when he put in a transfer request
The Argentine superstar footballer and FC Barcelona’s captain Lionel Messi will leave the club if he fails to accept a pay cut, says that club’s Presidential candidate Emili Rousaud.
Messi’s future at the Spanish league, La Liga’s giants Barcelona has been teetering after the Argentine handed a transfer request to the club following a miserable 2019-20 campaign.
Lionel Messi who has 6 Ballon d’Or, the maximum won by any player in the world, to his name was tipped to join the English Premier League (EPL) giants Manchester City but in the end remained in Spain, however, he has now been linked to making a move to France’s League 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Italian powerhouse Inter Milan.
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Rousaud who is running for the position of the President of FC Barcelona – elections to take place on 24th January – after the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu in October, discussed about the future of the 33 year old Argentine in the club amidst the global pandemic caused by the novel Coronavirus.
Talking to ARA, Rousaud said, “We’ll have to sit down with Messi and ask him to make a salary cut”.
“Right now, with things as they are, it’s unsustainable,” and added, “We’ll ask him to make the sacrifice. If there’s no agreement, then Messi will leave.”
The 54 year old also said that “Messi has written the most brilliant pages in the club’s history. We have to honour our legends, but the reality is what it is.
“I believe that things have to be said as they are. We can’t fool our members. We’ll make every effort to ensure he stays, but always with the interests of the club first.”
Messi scored a goal for Ronal Koeman’s Barcelona, winning the game 1-0 against Levante in the La Liga match on Monday.
After suffering losses from Juventus in the UEFA Champions League and in La Liga from Cadiz, Barca managed to bounce back owing to Messi who scored the winner in the 76th minute of the game to close the gap between the current league leader Real Sociedad of 9 points.
Also Read: Boateng Urges Messi To Sign For Napoli, Says “It Would Be Like A Movie”
Having said this, Barcelona still has 2 game advantage on Real Sociedad.
Barcelona will have a chance to close the gap further when they will be meeting Real Sociedad in the league match which will be played at Camp Nou on Thursday.
Messi, in his career at Barcelona, has been involved in 37 goals against Levante – 22 goals and 15 assists – which is more than any other team in La Liga.
In the Spanish League La Liga, Messi has scored a total of 449 goals and after scoring just 1 more goal he will become the first ever player to reach the 450 goals mark with just 1 club in the top 5 European Leagues.
