Messi's Burofax To Bartomeu Revealed: La Pulga Wants To Leave Barca Since 30 August 2020

JAKARTA - Lionel Messi is known to have sent a burofax to Josep Maria Bartomeu more than a year ago. At that time Messi stated, he wanted to leave Barcelona.

Burofax is a service of Spain's state-owned postal service company, Correos, for sending documents. It was the service that Messi chose to communicate with Bartomeu, who was then president of Barcelona.

On 24 August 2020, Messi explained to Bartomeu that he planned to leave on the 30th of that month by implementing a clause in his contract that would allow him to become a free agent.

Burofax, now revealed by Mundo Deportivo, indicated that it was Messi himself who signed the document, in which he detailed the terms of the clause that would allow him to be released from his contract.

What does Messi's burofax say?

"Dear Mr. Bartomeu," reads Messi's burofax opening.

“Hereby, and in accordance with the provisions of clause 3.1 of the contract dated 25 November 2017, I hereby express my desire to terminate my employment contract as a professional footballer which is effective from 30 August 2020.

I understand that the period of the right to unilaterally terminate without cause as regulated in the above-mentioned article must be interpreted in accordance with the extraordinary circumstances in which the 2019/20 football competition season has taken place, due to the state of emergency and the force majeure situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to these extraordinary circumstances, the 2019/20 season ended yesterday, without prejudice to the fact that for our team this ending happened on 15 August, when we returned to Barcelona after being knocked out of the Champions League on the night of 14 August.

However, within 10 days after the end of the competitive season, and thereby meeting the agreed deadline to implement clause 3.1 mentioned above, pursuant to the material contract of our agreement, which shall be construed in accordance with the exceptions to the circumstances of the 2019/20 season, I exercise my right to terminate the contract which is effective as of August 30, 2020, with the consequences set out in the provisions of 3.1 above.

Yours faithfully,

Lionel Andres Messi."

However, in the end, Barcelona did not consider this statement enough and refused to let Messi go.

Messi, whose contract expires one year later on 30 June 2021, hopes for a change in the club's management. And it happened a few months later, when Joan Laporta succeeded Bartomeu as president of Barcelona.

However, Barcelona's financial situation is in such a critical condition that Laporta and his team are unable to keep Messi, even though the 34-year-old is willing to accept a 50 percent pay cut.

Then, on August 5, 2021, as revealed by MARCA, Barcelona issued a statement confirming that they could not keep Messi and comply with LaLiga's salary limit rules.

Five days later, Messi's move to Paris Saint-Germain was confirmed.