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Lionel Messi next club: Manchester City favourites after Barcelona superstar requests transfer

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Lionel Messi has shocked the football world by handing in a transfer at Barcelona.

Standard Sport understands that the best player in the world on Tuesday confirmed his intention to move on this summer via fax following a difficult season at Camp Nou that ended without a trophy and an 8-2 Champions League quarter-final humiliation by Bayern Munich.

Barcelona also relinquished their LaLiga crown to fierce rivals Real Madrid and lost to Athletic Bilbao in the last eight of the Copa del Rey - the first time since 2008 that they have failed to claim a single piece of silverware on offer.

Messi wants to exercise a clause allowing him to leave Catalonia for free this summer, though the club insist that particular clause expired in June.

The Argentine's current buyout clause is set at €700million.

Regardless of whether or not a significant transfer fee will have to be paid for Messi in the event that he does leave Barcelona over the coming weeks, any club wishing to sign the six-time Ballon d'Or winner will still have to possess some real spending power, given his enormous salary.

Manchester City are unsurprisingly the bookmakers' favourites to land Messi given their financial capabilities and the obvious Pep Guardiola connection, while Inter Milan have been frequently linked with the player's signature over recent months.

Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are also listed high in the odds, though the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo in Turin surely makes that particular deal unfeasible.

Lionel Messi: Next permanent club odds (via Betfair)

  • Man City - 6/4

  • Inter Milan - 3/1

  • PSG - 3/1

  • Juventus - 4/1

  • Manchester United - 13/2

  • Any MLS club - 12/1

  • Liverpool - 14/1

  • Leeds - 20/1

  • Any Argentinian club - 25/1

  • Bayern Munich - 35/1

  • Chelsea - 50/1

  • Lazio - 100/1

  • Newcastle - 100/1

  • Napoli - 125/1

  • Real Madrid - 150/1

It's set to be an interesting transfer window.

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