Football news - Lionel Messi’s Barcelona exit clause expires, extending stay by 12 months

The Argentine signed a four-year deal in 2017, which stated he could leave for free in the summer of 2020 if he told Barcelona before June.

The clause had many speculating Messi could call time on his Barcelona stay, having been there since moving to Europe as a 13-year-old.

Manchester City were said to be monitoring the situation closely, in a move which could have seen Messi reunited with Pep Guardiola.

Meanwhile, Inter were linked with a sensational move for Messi back in April, so too David Beckham’s Inter Miami, but the 32-year-old will not be leaving Camp Nou this summer.

Messi is back training with his Barcelona team-mates ahead of La Liga’s June 11 restart.

Barcelona will recommence their bid to defend the Spanish title on Saturday June 13 away to Real Mallorca after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think there were a lot of negative things in this crisis, but there can be nothing worse than losing the people you love the most, that creates enormous frustration for me and seems to me the most unfair thing of all," Messi told El Pais.

"Most of us are left with doubts about what the world is going to be like after everything that has happened. Beyond the confinement and the situation that took us by surprise, many people had a really hard time because this situation affected them in some way, as it happened with all those who lost their family and friends and could not even see them.

“Football, like life in general, I think will never be the same.

"The return to training, competitions and what was previously done in a normal way, now will have to be started again, but progressively. It will be a strange situation for us and for anyone who has to change their usual working dynamics."