It will be difficult for Messi to remain with

BARCELONA, Sept 02 (Agencies): It will be difficult for Lionel Messi to remain at Barcelona after he made public his desire to leave the Spanish club, his father and agent Jorge Messi said on Wednesday as he arrived in the city to negotiate his son's future.

After flying in on a private jet, Jorge Messi is expected to meet club president Josep Maria Bartomeu later on Wednesday to discuss his son's future, Spanish media reported.

A club spokesman declined to comment.

The six-time world player of the year insists he has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave on a free transfer - a claim disputed by Barcelona and La Liga, who say the Argentine can only leave if a rival club is willing to pay a 700 million euro ($830.20 million) buyout clause.

"I don't know, I know nothing," Messi's father told Spanish TV channel Cuatro when asked if the 33-year-old would leave the only club he has played for professionally.

But when pressed if it would be hard for him to remain, he said "yes". And asked how he sees Messi's future at Barcelona, he replied "difficult, difficult."

He dodged questions on whether Manchester City would be a good option for his son. A move to Manchester City would allow Messi to link up with his former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

"I don't know, there's nothing yet," he said, adding he had not had any discussions with Guardiola, who enjoyed trophy-laden years as Barcelona manager with Messi in his pomp.

Messi did not show up on Monday for the first training session of the season under new coach Ronald Koeman.

Meanwhile, Barcelona is banking on a face-to-face meeting with Lionel Messi to try to convince him to stay.

Messi has been offered a two-year contract extension, a club official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorised to speak publicly about the issue. The contract would run through the 2022-23 season. Both sides had already pre-agreed on most of the terms a few months ago, according to the club official.

Barcelona and Messi have yet to talk directly since the Argentine said last week that he wanted to leave the club. He made his announcement 11 days after the season ended in an 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The humiliating defeat on August 14 capped a complicated season for Barcelona, the first without a title since 2007-08.

Messi then invoked a clause that would allow him to leave for free at the end of the season, but Barcelona said the clause expired in June. Messi's staff is expected to claim that the end of the season was pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.