MADRID: The Lionel Messi transfer saga took another step forward on Saturday with the news that he would not go to the club's training ground to take a planned coronavirus test. Messi and the rest of the Barcelona squad who played in their ill-fated Champions League campaign are required to take the tests on Sunday before returning to pre-season training under new coach Ronald Koeman on Monday.
Catalan radio station RAC1, which has close links to the club, reported that Messi will not go to the training ground because he believes that after telling the club on August 25 that he wanted to leave, the conditions of his contract state that he can abandon the Camp Nou without a transfer fee.
Barcelona disagree and insist that Messi had to tell them of his desire to abandon the club by June 10, nominally the end of the season in 2020.
However, the striker's camp says Barca's season didn't finish until August 14 due to the suspension of competition caused by the coronavirus.
Under the four-year contract signed in 2017, Messi can leave the club for free if he requests it by June 10. Messi invoked this clause, but Barca said it had already expired. IANS