Barcelona spokesman, Josep Vives, has pleaded with Lionel Messi to remain at the club.
According to Vives, he cannot imagine Messi leaving the Camp Nou, after Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid to join Juventus earlier this month.
Ronaldo had a €1billion release clause in his contract, but Madrid allowed him to join Juve for significantly less, once he asked to leave.
Messi signed a new deal with Barca in November, with a release clause worth €700m, that ties him to the club through the 2020/2021 season.
“I cannot imagine that situation in which Messi is not with us,” Vives told reporters on Thursday.
“I am already getting nervous because there have been many days without football [games]. We do not imagine this situation here.”
Earlier this week, Marco Tronchetti Provera, the CEO of Pirelli, one of Inter Milan’s main sponsors, suggested that Inter’s owners would consider a move for Messi in response to Ronaldo’s arrival in Serie A.
But Inter vice president, Javier Zanetti, laughed off that suggestion while speaking to Fox Sports Argentina.
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