Lionel Messi makes decision on whether to join Barcelona pre-season amid stalled contract | OneFootball

Barcelona are not likely to welcome Lionel Messi back to training today despite the Argentine’s planned return date finally arriving.

Messi is yet to feature in Barcelona’s pre-season preparations due to his participation in the Copa América final, along with Sergio Aguero and Emerson Royal.

Today was supposed to be the day that all three of those players returned to Barca‘s training facilities to begin their preparations for the new season.

But it seems only two will return as planned, with Messi set to stay away for now, according to Mundo Deportivo.

Messi is yet to sign a new contract with Barcelona despite having agreed terms, with the Catalan club still significantly over its La Liga salary cap and unable to register new deals.

And according to the report, Messi will not return to the Barcelona facilities until the contract has gone through.

That interesting development now poses the question of whether Messi is prepared to miss the start of the season should his contract not be registered within the next 13 days.