Lionel Messi’s father arrives in Barcelona for crunch talks with La Liga club

Lionel Messi’s father and agent has arrived in Spain for crunch talks with the Barcelona hierarchy over his son’s future.

Jorge Messi boarded a private jet taking him to Spain from Rosario in Argentina and landed in the private terminal of the Barcelona-El Prat airport at around 6.45am local time.

He is due to meet Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the rest of the Barcelona board to resolve the impasse between player and club over the forward’s contract situation.

On Wednesday morning, Jorge Messi conceded it is “difficult” his son will stay at Barcelona when asked by Spanish television programme El Chiringuito as he arrived at the Fundacion Leo Messi for talks.

However, he said that “there is nothing yet” in terms of a possible move to Manchester City and that he had not spoken to Pep Guardiola.

Messi no longer considers himself a Barcelona player and did not turn up to the club’s Covid-19 testing on Sunday and subsequent start of training sessions on Monday.

The 33-year-old, who has played for the Spanish team for almost 20 years, informed the club last week he wants to leave.

Source: Sky Sports