Free transfer clause not valid, Barcelona president tells Lionel Messi's father

Lionel Messi's future is currently the hottest topic in the football world. Meanwhile, the 33-year old Argentine's father and agent, Jorge Messi, met with FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu to discuss his son's transfer matters.

According to reports, the meeting didn't yield any meaningful conclusions. As a result, there are still dark clouds hovering over the possibility of Messi leaving Barcelona for free.

The meeting went on for two hours, during which Bartomeu reportedly insisted that Messi's free transfer clause is no longer valid. Messi's current contract with the club remains active until June 2021.

Barcelona president Bartomeu and Jorge could not reach an agreement over the future of Barca's all-time top goalscorer. Messi's father flew to Barcelona in order to demand his son's release. Since the meeting wasn't productive, the two sides will hold yet another meeting. As of now, the date of the next meeting hasn't been fixed yet.

Earlier this week, when Jorge was asked about his son's future in Barcelona, the 62-year old agent said that it would be "difficult" for Messi to extend his stay in Spain. Until now, Messi has spent his entire football career at Camp Nou. There were reports about Messi being in constant contact with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. Jorge has denied any such theories.

According to The Score, while speaking about Messi's possible move to the Premier League, Jorge said, "There's nothing yet."

On Monday, Messi skipped Barcelona's first preseason training session under new head coach Ronald Koeman amidst the ongoing dispute. His legal team is convinced that Messi is no longer under contract with Barca and hence, has no responsibility to attend training.

Last week, the six-time Ballon d'Or winner informed his club that he wants to move to a new destination. In the process, he asked his employers to activate the free release clause mentioned in his contract. According to Messi's contract with the Catalan side, the Argentine is legally permitted to move to a different club for free at the end of each season.

This year, the season-end was delayed due to the lockdown that was imposed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, the club stated that Messi's free transfer window expired on June 10. This means, whichever club that decides to acquire Messi, must pay the Blaugranas a whopping 700 million euros (£622 million).

Manchester City remains to be the favorite club to land the six-time Ballon d'Or winner, although he has been linked with other top European sides as well like Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Juventus.