Barcelona have confirmed that Lionel Messi will not be signing a new contract with them and the player’s career at the Spanish club has finally come to an end.
The Argentine international is currently a free agent but he was expected to renew his deal with the Spanish La Liga club.
However, Barcelona will not be able to go through with the extension because of the Spanish league’s regulations on player registration.
A statement on the club’s official website says that Messi will have to leave because of financial and structural obstacles.
The 34-year-old has been at Barcelona since 2000 and he has played around 810 games for them across all competitions.
In that time the Argentine has scored 683 goals and he has won countless trophies with the Spanish club.
Messi has helped Barcelona win 10 League titles and four Champions League titles. He also won the Ballon d’Or six times during his time at Camp Nou.
The Argentine recently won the Copa America with his country and it will be interesting to see where he ends up now.
The likes of Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City have been tipped as potential destinations.
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly the greatest player of all time and certainly the best in the history of Barcelona.
It will be impossible to replace his contributions at the club and it will be interesting to see how the Spanish giants cope with his departure.
They have signed the likes of Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero in the summer but those players have not been registered because of the financial difficulties yet.
Even if they are registered as Barcelona players in time for the new season, none of them are good enough to replace the Argentine superstar.
