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Barcelona’s technical director Ramon Planes has responded to news captain Lionel Messi wants to leave the club and says the Catalan giants will fight to keep hold of the 33-year-old.
Messi stunned the football world on Tuesday by informing Barcelona he wants to leave and hopes to use a clause in his contract to terminate his current deal and walk away for free.
Planes was asked about Messi on Wednesday at a press conference to unveil new signing Francisco Trincao and made it clear the club are intent on keeping hold of the Argentina international.
“We count on Messi for the future just like we count on Trincao as a talent for the future and we hope he will play with the greatest player in history, the greatest player in the world.
“We’ve not really thought about Messi leaving contractually because we want him to stay. We have a lot of respect for him. Internally we are working hard, putting in long hours to find the best solution for Leo and for Barcelona.
“Leo’s given Barça so much. We all have to fight so that the relationship continues. We have said that we want to build the new team around Messi, the best player in the world.”
The Barcelona director also denied reports that Messi will not be returning to the club on Sunday for PCR testing ahead of beginning pre-season training on Monday.
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Optimism for the Future at Barcelona?
News that Messi could leave has understandably dismayed supporters, but Planes insisted the club are trying their best to build a talented new team around the 33-year-old.
“We are working and building a team. We present Pedri, Trincao, and some more signings that will come, to try to make a winning team, we try to regenerate the team.
“Always with great respect to those who are here and have won a lot here. This must be approached with great respect. We cannot make this a public dispute between Barça and Messi because neither party deserves it.”
Trincao is the latest young player to be unveiled at the Camp Nou and follows 17-year-old Pedri in making the move. Both players have had international call-ups this week. Trincao has been named in the Portugal squad, while Pedri has been called up for Spain Under-21 duty.
Pedri will join Barcelona team-mates such as Riqui Puig, Carles Alena, Juan Miranda, and Inaki Pena in the Under-21 squad, while 17-year-old forward Ansu Fati has been named in the senior side for the first time.
Yet it’s not clear if any of Barcelona’s work or their growing number of talented youngsters will be enough to keep Messi at the Camp Nou.
According to Marcelo Bechler, the Argentine wants to play for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and the Citizens are one of the few clubs able to afford the 33-year-old.
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Barcelona ‘Will Fight’ to Keep Lionel Messi: Ramon Planes