Lionel Messi will be asked to take pay cut in first meeting with Bartomeu since transfer saga to lower Barca squad wages

Debate raged over whether Messi could leave for free and if he would sensationally reunite with Pep Guardiola and play for Manchester City in the Premier League.

But ultimately he made a reluctant U-turn after revealing he would not take the club he loves to court in order to leave.

The report states Messi wants nothing to do with Bartomeu, given the forward believes he went back on his word after saying he would be allowed to go if he desired.

However, the Catalan giants' financial situation is dire.

Club accounts for the 2019-20 season revealed massive losses of £90million.

And despite a net gain of around £20m from the deal that saw Arthur leave for Juventus and Miralem Pjanic arriving at the Nou Camp, more needs to be done.

Messi knows - after being re-elected as skipper - he will have to lead by example when it comes to cost-cutting measures.

The club are desperate to get their annual wage bill down and need Messi to give a reduction the green light before moving onto other big earners in the first-team squad.

The report adds that sparks will fly in the meeting between Bartomeu and Messi after such an eventful summer.

On the pitch, Messi returned to training last Monday under new boss Ronald Koeman.

And the former Holland boss immediately selected him to start the first game of the season on Saturday.

Barca beat Gimnastic 3-1 with Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and the returning Philippe Coutinho nabbing the goals.