La Liga
REVEALED! NEW COACH, KOEMAN TRIGGERS MESSI’S EXIT FROM BARCELONA
It has been revealed that the harsh communication between Lionel Messi and the new Dutch coach, Ronald Koeman may have caused the Argentine legend to call it quit at Barcelona.
Messi decided to hand in a transfer request after the coach frankly told him: “your privileges in the squad are over.”
The 33-year-old had been considering his future at the Nou Camp after a trophyless season ended with a humiliating 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League, which prompted the sacking of coach Quique Setien
Koeman was quickly installed as Setién’s replacement, after which Messi reportedly told the Dutchman that he saw himself ‘more out of the club than in it’ having cut short his holiday to meet the Dutchman.
Argentine news outlet Diario Olé claims at a meeting Koeman told Messi: ‘Your privileges in the squad are over, you have to do everything for the team. I’m going to be inflexible, you have to think about the team.’
The frank exchange reportedly convinced Messi that now is the time for him to leave the club.
The dramatic move piled the pressure on Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Fans were heard shouting ‘Bartomeu resign!’ outside the club’s headquarters but the president on Tuesday night insisted he is not considering resigning.
Messi communicated to Barcelona via fax on Tuesday that he wants to leave the club on a free transfer this summer.
The extraordinary development potentially puts the 33-year-old within reach of a dramatic move to Manchester City and a reunion with Pep Guardiola.
Manchester United, PSG, Inter Milan and Juventus are also showing early interest.
The Argentine journalist close to the player, Veronica Brunati, broke the story on Tuesday and it was subsequently confirmed by sources close to the Catalan club.
Messi’s bold move was immediately praised by Carles Puyol who tweeted: ‘Respect and admiration Leo. All my support, amigo.’
Puyol’s tweet was then applauded in a reply from Luis Suarez.
Messi’s discontent is nothing new but the possibility of a free transfer is.
The suggestion is that Messi believes a clause in his contract allowing him to walk away for nothing is still valid because the season ended in August and not May because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Barcelona say the deadline for Messi to leave for free passed in June and will contest the player’s argument that the deadline changed when the season was rearranged after lockdown.
Messi is supposed to report for the new season on Sunday for a scheduled coronavirus test but has no intention of meeting up with new coach Ronald Koeman or attending Monday’s subsequent first training session.
The bombshell opens the way to three very different scenarios:
The club could simply point to Messi’s €700million (£620m) release clause and stick to their belief that his chance to leave on a free passed in June.
They could accept that he wants to go and open negotiations to buy-out the final year of his deal as they are doing with Suarez.
Or Messi’s move could spark outrage among the club’s supporters and a vote of no-confidence in president Josep Bartomeu forcing elections.
The first of those three options is likely to be their first reaction.
But there is a growing belief around the club that at least part of the club’s board want Messi to leave.
The former Barcelona president Joan Laporta accused Bartomeu of wanting to sell Messi in a tweet published on Tuesday.
‘I suspect they want to sell Messi,’ he said. ‘Poor Barça in the hands of these incompetents.’
Messi earns €50m (£44m) net a season and that costs the club close to €100m (£88m) gross a year with tax payments.
The pandemic has left the club fearing a €300 (£3265m) hole in revenue for next season.
The wage bill – already making up 60 per cent of income pre-pandemic – would now swallow up 80 per cent of revenue and the club desperately need to reduce it.
Barcelona’s stance towards Messi has changed drastically since the 8-2 exit to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
President Bartomeu has not spoken to the club captain since the debacle and new coach Koeman has already said he does not want anyone at the club who does not want to be there.
Messi has now made it clear he wants out.
And Barcelona must decide how to react as Manchester City lead the small clutch of European clubs who would be able to pay his wages all beginning to wonder if the impossible signing is now on.
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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