Why frustrated Lionel Messi wants to leave Barcelona this summer

Lionel Messi has told Barcelona he wants to leave the club this summer.

But how did it come to this?

The truth is, Messi has been frustrated at Barca for some time.

The club’s record in the Champions League since winning the treble in 2014-15 has not been good enough and after winning the competition three times in seven seasons, Barca have not won it since.

The Treble was won largely thanks to Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, described by Luis Enrique as the "best trident in football history".

Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves were also still at Barca then. Xavi left in 2015, Alves in 2016, Neymar in 2017 and Iniesta in 2018, with none of that trio properly replaced.

Ahead of the 2018-19 season, Messi told the Camp Nou crowd, in reference to the Champions League, that he and his team-mates would do “everything possible to bring back that beautiful trophy”.

Instead, Barca collapsed at Anfield, losing 4-0 to go down 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

The season ended in huge disappointment with that loss to Liverpool, and Barca then went down to Valencia in the Copa del Rey Final.

There was plenty of anger among fans, but Barca (and Messi) had been just three games from winning a treble.

President Josep Maria Bartomeu kept faith in coach Ernesto Valverde and Messi started the 2019-20 season injured. The Argentine had wanted the club to bring back Neymar, but Barca bought Antoine Griezmann instead and the French forward struggled to adapt.

In signing Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho (loaned to Bayern Munich in 2019-20) and Ousmane Dembele (sidelined for most of the season), Barca spent more than €350million on replacing Neymar.

Meanwhile, Messi admitted he didn't know if Barcelona had done all they could to bring back the Brazilian.

In September, Messi told Catalan publication Sport: "I want to keep winning things with the club. I want to keep achieving important things. For me, the clause doesn't mean anything.

"Money neither. I'm moved by other things. The most important thing for me is a winning project."

In January, Valverde was sacked after a 3-2 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa in Saudi Arabia. Many fans were happy to see him dismissed, but Barcelona had been top of LaLiga at the time and were through to the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners.

The players liked Valverde and were unhappy at how the situation was handled as it emerged Barca were in talks with Xavi. He said 'no' and other targets (the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman) also declined, so Bartomeu turned to the out-of-work Quique Setien.

Setien arrived amid talk of Johan Cruyff's philosophy and a return to 'Barca DNA' after a more pragmatic approach under Valverde, but he couldn't improve results or performances as Barcelona failed to win a trophy for first time since 2007-08.

In February, Messi hit out at technical director Eric Abidal after he claimed some players hadn't been training properly.

“Players [are responsible] for what happens on the pitch. The heads of the sports department have to take their responsibilities too," Messi wrote on Instagram.

After a depleted Barca drew 1-1 at Napoli in the Champions League in February, Sergio Busquets gave a brutal assessment of the club's summer structuring.

"The squad is short," he said. "Unfortunately, it was planned that way." Barcelona had just 13 first-team players available for the return leg.

Soon after that came a much bigger scandal after it was reported that Barca had been paying a social media firm to protect Bartomeu's reputation online and disparage other parties, including Messi.

Barcelona strongly denied any wrongdoing and Bartomeu branded the claims “completely false”.

"In (the) first place, and so that no one is left in any doubt, Barca has not contracted any services to disparage neither players, nor politicians, nor former presidents. It is completely false," Bartomeu said.

“We will defend ourselves wherever necessary via all means at our disposal against anyone who accuses (us) of such practices.”

In March, Messi and his team-mates released a statement revealing they had agreed to a 70 per cent reduction of their wages due to Covid-19 and took a dig at the club after reports in the media that they had been unwilling to do so.

Twice during lockdown, Messi said Barca were not good enough to win Champions League, claiming that they needed significant improvement. Setien said he disagreed and claimed that Barca could win it “if we play like we did against Villarreal".

But Messi was right. Barca’s problems were exposed in the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich and Leo has not spoken since in public. Bartomeu promised changes, but brought elections forward only by a few months to March. Setien was replaced by Koeman.

Messi was then thought to be furious as details of a meeting with Koeman were leaked. Koeman reportedly told him there would be an end to his ‘privileges’ at Barca.

A short phone call informing Luis Suarez that he has no future at Barcelona is also understood to have angered Messi.

Meanwhile, Manchester City are now favourites to sign Messi. City's project had been tailored from very start to attract Pep Guardiola as coach and, if possible, Messi as star player.

Ironically, it was based on Barca's model, incorporating Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain.

City today, despite the club's inability to claim the Champions League and missing out on the Premier League title in 2019-20, is exactly the type of clear strategy for success and "winning project" Messi is seeking in the twilight of his career.

At Barca, Messi's calls for change and warnings were ignored. Even if Bartomeu leaves, the 2020-21 campaign is likely to be a transitional season at Camp Nou. Messi has had enough.

Through all this, Messi has stayed silent. As club captain, he should have spoken after Bayern, but clearly now feels that is futile.

If he leaves this summer, after an 8-2 loss and with no fans in the stadium, it will be the saddest of goodbyes.

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