Lionel Messi isn’t expected to attend Barcelona’s pre-season medical tests on Sunday as he tries to force a move away from the club.
It was widely reported on Saturday the the Argentinian forward has informed Barcelona that he will not show up for the squad’s mandatory coronavirus testing.
He also plans to sit out the start of pre-season training on Monday.
According to Spanish journalist Josep Pedrerol, Barcelona have responded to Messi by reminding him that he’s still under contract with the Camp Nou club and must attend Sunday’s testing at their Ciutat Esportiva training ground.
It really looks like things are about to turn ugly.
Messi believes he is free to leave Barcelona this summer after activating a clause in his contract but the Spanish giants are pointing out the June 10 deadline for this clause has already passed.
They’re expecting him to attend on Sunday and could hand out sanctions if he doesn’t.
Sport have now detailed the punishments Messi could receive if he refuses to show up. They claim any sanction for missing Sunday’s testing would be classified as minor, and he might not even be disciplined at all because he informed Barcelona of his intention to leave ‘effective from the 30th August’.
Things would ramp up if he didn’t attend on Sunday and Monday, though.
Severe sanctions could be handed out for ‘the first and second failure to attend, without just cause, when not related to a match.’
In this case, Barcelona could suspend the 33-year-old without pay for between 2-10 days. He could be fined up to 7% of his monthly salary, depending on the severity of the offence.
The fines would get even more severe if Messi were to miss Tuesday’s session.
The rules state: ‘The third and fourth successive failures to attend work, without just cause, would incur a heavy sanction.’
Messi could be suspended and miss out on 10-30 days of pay.
According to Football Leaks, Messi earns £988,000-per-week at Barcelona. So he would be in the upper tier of the fine structure.
That means with a rough monthly pay of £4.2 million, Messi could be fined more than £1m.
Source: Givemesport
BDST: 1320 HRS, AUG 30, 2020
AP
