And coming next season…

Maybe it's a sign of age, one too many disappointments in life or those TV series that I never watch, but always seem to be prolonged for another season - and never end quite how viewers had hoped... I don't believe that Messi's departure from Barça can simply be polished off with a 12-line statement in which the club points the finger at LaLiga and Javier Tebas as the only obstacles in the way impeding that the best player in the world from continuing in Spain.

I'm just as convinced that the whole deal fell to pieces on Thursday evening as it was all tied up on Wednesday. Even Messi phoned Kun to tell he'd see him in training on Friday. Barcelona had a statement prepared to announce the happy news but in the end it all went down the pan. It's like a piano falling on your head on your wedding day when you are three metres away from stepping into the church. It could happen, but it would be highly unusual.

Barcelona without Messi

Nobody doubts that the situation isn't serious, among other things because Bartomeu left Barça like a third division pawn shop which, at least for now, Laporta has not been able to lighten the burden. Messi is leaving, but Umtiti, Coutinho, Dembélé and Braithwaite will continue? And Tebas will have to accept that the history books will paint him as the one who forced Messi's retirement from football (because as things stand, Messi is not thinking about joining another club) - that all seems a bit too far fetched to me.

It's only speculation and maybe just down to natural suspicion, but soap operas almost always run for another season. And Messi will be back training soon. For the time being we have the villain, the victim, the plot, an apocalyptic ending and a legion of spectators who are watching in a mixture of awe and disbelief at the series of developments which are moving faster than the eye can see.