Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona.
The Argentine superstar's contract at the Camp Nou actually expired last month, but there had been a verbal agreement over a new deal that was supposed to be signed on Thursday.
However, La Liga regulations stopped that from happening, thus leaving Barcelona to announce Messi's surprise departure on Thursday night with a short statement.
"Despite having reached an agreement between FC Barcelona and Leo Messi and with the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, it cannot be formalised due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations)," the statement reads.
"Given this situation, Lionel Messi will not continue linked to FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot finally be fulfilled.
"Barca would like to thank with all its heart the player's contribution to the enhancement of the institution and wishes him the best in his personal and professional life."
Of course, since the announcement there has been plenty of speculation with regards to Messi's next move.
Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have all been linked, whilst there is a theory that he could end up staying at the Camp Nou after all.
But what would be even more appealing about signing arguably the best player in the world, is the fact that one lucky club will acquire Messi's services without having to pay a transfer fee.
This is made even more interesting when taking into consideration that as per transfermarkt, the 34-year-old is valued at £72million.
Had a Premier League club paid that fee, Messi would have been the joint-seventh most expensive transfer in British football history behind the likes of Harry Maguire, Virgil van Dijk and more recently Jack Grealish who joined Man City for £100m on Thursday.
Now, the chances of Arsenal signing Messi are highly unlikely despite him being 'tempted' by the Gunners all the way back in 2003.
Although, as per the CIES Football Observatory, the north London outfit may already have a player that is more valuable than Messi at this present moment.
Bukayo Saka has an estimated transfer value of €70m-€90m (£59m-£76m) which means if the higher valuation is solely considered then he's worth £4m more than the Argentina superstar.
Whilst it is pretty much impossible to compare Saka and Messi given what the latter has done in his career, the teenager does have massive potential in his locker and could soon become one of the most valuable players in the world.
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