madrid lionel messis shock announcement that he wants to leave barcelona looks like the opening salvo in negotiations around the fine detail of his contract and the allimportant getout clause a spanish sports lawyer said on wednesdaythe 33yearold argentine has declared his wish to leave the club whose academy he joined at the age of 13 beginning a glittering career which has soured over the past 12 months under the management of president josep maria bartomeuread alsowhat next for lionel messi argentines hoping for messiguardiola reunion at manchester citythe news that lionel messi wants to leave barcelona may have shocked the football world but his fellow argentines back his decision and they are excited by growing reports of a reunion with coach pep guardiola at manchester citygoals records trophies the glittering career of lionel messilionel messi was a diminutive 13yearold and suffering from growth hormone deficiency when he joined the academy at barcelona who agreed to pay for his 1000amonth treatment despite severe homesickness at the outset messi rose through the ranks and made his firstteam debut aged 17 in 2004messis lawyers have referred to a clause in the fouryear contract he signed in 2017 which would have allowed him to leave the club for free but only if he requested it by june 10they will argue that that date nominally the end of the season is now irrelevant after the coronavirus delays that led to the seasons extension and the team playing deep into augustthe club will argue that the may date is the relevant one and so his departure now would trigger a monster 700 million euros 827 million release payment from any interested clubi think barcelona is in a stronger position but messi has certainly showed the weakness barcelona might have sports and business lawyer santiago nebot who has acted as general counsel for spanish soccer players union afe told reutersif he says to barcelona i want to go give me a free transfer and barcelona says no there is absolutely nothing he can do said nebot who has not seen messis contract and based his assessment on media reportshe is showing this weapon saying i want to leave if you dont sit down and negotiate i will try to use this clause saying that it extends over time and that you could interpret it as being applicable nowbecause of covid what they need to assess as well as the date is the intention of the parties he added why june 10 because june 10 is 10 days after the last match or because it is 20 days before the transfer window opens on july 1earlier on wednesday barcelonas technical secretary ramon planes said our idea at the club is still to build a new winning cycle around the best player in the worldwe are working internally to convince leonebot agreedthey need to negotiate so that he stays convince him to stay this year and wait for a really good season bring him a good