Lionel Messi will be staying at Barcelona this season after all.
Messi announced his decision to stay on Friday despite expressing his desire to leave the club early last week by way of a now infamous burofax. Ultimately, his contract with the club has a prohibitive 700 million euro (approximately $835 million) release clause, and the leave-for-free clause that Messi argued he still had in his contact expired in June.
There was quibbling between his father-agent, Jorge, and the club over the legitimacy of that clause's expiration date due to the end of the season being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but ultimately La Liga and Barcelona remained firm on the terms.