Where does Lionel Messi's future lie?

Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring his team's third goal against Elche

Making the news headlines more than often is not a rare feat for someone like Lionel Messi. His goal scoring feats, records and trophies have been common as headlines but making the headlines for Instagram likes is slightly unusual. But such is the following and attention paid to the Argentine.

Messi followed Chelsea and Chelsea’s players on Instagram after Barcelona’s loss to Real Sociedad, and whatever happened before the match or after the match piled up more misery onto Barcelona’s pile of woes.

According to rumours, Messi had a brawl with Luis Enrique in a training session after the Christmas break where the latter was not given a free kick for what was considered as a foul by Messi. Reportedly, Messi went over to Luis Enrique to argue about the free kick not being given. The argument went overboard and there were some heated exchanges between the two who had to be ushered off by some of Barcelona’s players.

Later in the Sociedad match, Lionel Messi and Neymar were benched for the first half. This not only angered the fans but also led to many raised eyebrows over Luis Enrique and Messi’s relationship.

Messi missed training the next day on January 6th (three kings day) – 15000 kids had come to see the training session. Reason for his absence was gastroenteritis as claimed by the Argentine. But what adds up to the rumors is that three days prior to this event, co-incidentally Xavi was stated as saying that gastroenteritis is used for excuses in football.

Rumours about Messi’s transfer have never gone as viral as this before. So here is a look as to why there is a good chance of Messi being transferred.

Spat with Luis Enrique

Actions speak louder than words and there is a good chance of the claimed rumours being true. So if the board decides to keep Luis Enrique, Messi can well be on his way out.

Luis Enrique has not had a good time picking on senior players in the past. One such instance was with Francesco Totti in AS Roma. Things went badly for both the club and Luis Enrique, and he was sacked after Roma failed to qualify for Europe.

So under the given circumstances, either Lionel Messi or Luis Enrique can stay as there are bleak chances of repairing their relationship.

Needs a new challenge

Messi has won everything there is to win in the world of football, except the World Cup, and his tenure at Barcelona is unmatched. He is the club’s highest goal scorer, La Liga’s highest goal scorer, El-Classico’s highest goal scorer and so on.

So he needs a new challenge to be thrown at him – ‘Can he do it on a cold and windy night in Stoke?’

Barcelona’s bad spell

Barcelona has the record for most number of trophies (6) won in a single year but have failed to lift any last year.

In 2013 – 14 season, Barcelona lost the league title to Atletico Madrid at Nou Camp, lost to the same team in the quarter-finals of the UCL and lost in the finals of Copa Del Rey to Real Madrid and Bale’s pace.

Managers on the same level as Messi

When a player grows to the levels of Messi or Ronaldo, they need to have managers who are of a somewhat equal stature. Only managers who have seen many youth footballers flourish can deal with these superstars. The Rooney-Moyes relationship is a case in point in how these can sometimes turn out badly.

Messi and Luis Enrique are falling out, and the Argentine needs a highly-rated manager to work with – for example, Mourinho.

Chelsea

Chelsea is favorites to grab the magician. With Adidas agreeing to pay half the transfer fee, Chelsea can buy him without breaking the financial fair play (FFP) rules. Whereas City and PSG are already under the wrath of FFP and they wouldn’t be too keen on violating it again.

Also the present Chelsea team is often compared to the Barcelona team that was managed by Pep Guardiola, and Fabregas’s presence wouldn’t hurt either.

Only time will tell where the Argentine is going to end up. Wherever he goes, the world is sure to follow him and he is sure to bring a lot of inspiration to whichever team he ends up in.