Barcelona are on the verge of losing the greatest player in their history.Lionel Messi wants to leave Camp Nou. These are words none of us ever expected to read or write but here we are.Reports in Spain on Thursday claim Josep Maria Bartomeu, Barça’s unpopular president, is now prepared to resign if it results in Messi changing his mind.But it’s understood that Messi has no interest in speaking with Bartomeu. His mind his made up. He wants out.Manchester City are the frontrunners to sign the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who turned 33 in June.The Premier League side feel ‘optimistic’ that they can sign Messi on a free transfer, although a fee of around €100 million may be required for the two clubs to avoid a court battle.The thought of Messi playing in another team’s colours is still hard to compute but, as things stand, the legendary forward has now played his final match for the Catalan giants.Sadly, Messi’s last game for Barcelona was arguably the worst of his career.Bayern Munich thrashed Messi and co. 8-2 in Lisbon to reach the Champions League semi-finals.Messi failed to get himself on the scoresheet that night, which means his final goal - if, indeed, he does leave this summer - came against Napoli on August 8.And what a brilliant goal it was, too.Despite losing his balance twice, Messi still managed to score a magnificent solo goal to put his team 2-0 up at Camp Nou.A video showing Messi’s ‘first and last’ goals for Barcelona is currently going viral on social media.His first goal, scored against Albacete when he was just 17 years old in May 2005, was a beautiful lob from a glorious Ronaldinho assist.Watch the video here…
Messi can only dream of that sort of service these days, which is one of the reasons why he’s off.
A few people have made that point in the comments…
Other fans are understandably feeling a little emotional…
Between those two goals, Messi scored another 632 for Barcelona during his 16-year professional career.
He also weighed in with 256 assists.
Barcelona fans are hoping for a miracle and that Messi suddenly changes his mind.
But whatever happens, at least they’ll always be able to say the greatest footballer of all time spent his peak years at Camp Nou.