I been digging for articles in 2018 which talk about Messi new contract, his buyout clause and his clause to leave for free. After reading up, I now think that releasing him for free is out of the question. It is clear that what Messi intends to do, is against the reason for the clause being in his contract.
Here are some points about the current situation
-There is definitely an option to leave his free by a certain date in June 2020. This is mentioned and Bartomeu mentioned it in interviews.
-Every article mentions that the clause is specifically to leave to a non-elite club, deciphered as any club outside the top 5. I'm going to assume that this is written into the contract. We would be fools to have not to, and it being a spoken gentlemens agreement.
So here is where it gets Messi. And the more you look at all points objectively, the less you will see that we can budge and let Messi leave for free. This is not a matter of goodwill anymore.
1) If Messi is arguing to be released for free then his representatives are saying that the clause to leave is valid.
2) If his clause to leave is valid then it means that the clause that it must be to a non-elite club is also valid. They can not argue for one clause to be accepted and another to be rejected in the same contract.
3) But if they are. Here is Messi big mistake. He is being represented by the same firm that was representing Barcelona and vetting our renewal contract with Messi. That means they are arguing against themselves and that the contracts that they write are not completely legally valid.
4) Given the above, Messi has no legal right to be in contact with Man City which would be a breach of contract. Which is why Bartomeu is stating that Messi can only leave by buyout clause. Because even if Messi were to leave, the option can not be Man City. The only way Man City can buy Messi is formally negotiating with the club.
5) There is a precedent of how this agreement works with Iniesta and Xavi. Both moved outside of an elite club/league when activating this agreement. Messi contracted clause was based off of these two's activated contract clauses. If worst comes to it, then both would have to testify.
So that is the jist of what is going on. It is not just about the free release clause activation date and whether it moves back because of Covid, but also about the clause of where he can move, and if it comes to it possibly who Messi has chosen to represent him. How can they argue against there own clauses.
In the end both sides are playing one game in the media and another behind the scenes. Man City will know they have to be careful how they approach this and if they definately are interested will have to table a proper offer as he will not move to them for free- unless Barcelona completely cave in to Messi. Which they shouldn't because he is trying to do something that is completely in opposite of why that clause is even in the contract.
So right now it is in the interest of FC Barcelona for Bartomeu (as much as we hate him) to say that Messi has a clause of 700m and that's that, both for the actual negotiation with Man City (if/when it starts) and for Messi so it states categorically that we count him as currently still our employee and that we are not actively trying to deny his release because we are instead trying to sell him (ie. so it is absolutely legally clear that Messi is forcing to go and that Man City's interest came to us).
