Barcelona's stunning announcement of Lionel Messi's exit sent soccer fans into a frenzy
Last year, Lionel Messi and Barcelona’s relationship had deteriorated to the point that the club legend was ready to leave for Manchester City. The two sides managed to work out those issues and went into Thursday with hopes of signing Messi to a new contract.
The expectation across the soccer world was that Thursday’s proceedings were a formality to keep the 34-year-old at the club for the foreseeable future. But, uh, something happened.
In an announcement that came completely out of nowhere, the official Twitter accounts for FC Barcelona said that it couldn’t sign Messi to the agreed contract because of La Liga’s financial regulations. Barcelona conceded that Messi would leave the club.