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There is a sense of sorrow and disbelief hanging over Catalunya after Messi's exit from Camp Nou was confirmed on Thursday.

First shock, then disbelief and, ultimately, sorrow.

These were the emotions among Barcelona supporters after the club announced Lionel Messi would not be signing a new contract. Perhaps even for Messi himself too, with the Argentine having agreed on a new, greatly reduced, deal with the club; he was expecting to join his team-mates in training this week ahead of the friendly against Juventus.

And yet, Barcelona put out a short, finger-pointing statement on Thursday night saying they wanted Messi to stay, he wanted to stay, but it was impossible because of La Liga’s financial constraints.

President Joan Laporta always appeared publicly confident that Messi would continue at Camp Nou and that they could find a way to register him. Despite Messi’s contract ending back in June and the fact he has been a free agent all summer, it seemed so many things had fallen into place.

The links to other clubs, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in particular, had faded. City were chasing – and have signed – Jack Grealish for £100 million ($139m), while PSG reinforced with Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum, Achraf Hakimi and others.

The pair seemed to have given up hope; now they are favourites to sign Messi.

The Argentine might realistically next appear at Camp Nou in a PSG shirt, denied the farewell at a packed stadium he deserved by Covid-19 and Barcelona’s withered bank accounts.

Messi, Barcelona’s captain since Xavi Hernandez left, had accepted a 50 per cent pay cut and, according to reports in Spain, was even willing to go further after the club told his father and agent Jorge they could not register him for this season with La Liga.