Graham Hunter says he wouldn't yet fully rule out a Lionel Messi departure from Barcelona before the current transfer window shuts.
The Argentine said last week he would be staying with the Catalan side, after rumours of discontent and a legal wrangle.
The disagreement between player and club was over whether or not his contract stipulated he could leave without any interested clubs having to pay extortionate money to sign him.
While he acknowledged the 33-year-old could well stay at Camp Nou as promised, Spanish football writer Hunter told OTB AM that anything remains possible.
"The key to this situation is that he's unhappy. Even though it was 'Peace in our time', there was a real Neville Chamberlain thing going on a couple of Friday's ago, the transfer market is still open.
"He still doesn't want to be at Barcelona, he's gone on record as saying he feels betrayed. I'm not saying a move is still going to happen, but I personally won't discount a move completely until the market shuts.
"A flare-up in tensions before the market closes is not inevitable, [but] it's significantly on the cards. Koeman has got one year, one shot at this.
"He's already a pretty ruthless man, utterly self-confident, and he won't stand for anything that he doesn't like. It doesn't mean that all his judgements will be correct, but the possibility of Messi saying something or doing something...
"... From the Neymar days, when it was Neymar, Suárez and Messi walking out last to training every day. Sometimes on the button of 11 o'clock if it was an 11AM session, so that by the time you're out on the pitch maybe it's a minute past.
"These things won't wash with Koeman. That doesn't necessarily make him right, because there needs to be elasticity if you're dealing with the greatest player of modern, all-time, take your pick."
Hunter added that the relationship between Messi and new Barca manager Ronald Koeman may not flourish.
"What's key is he's there on sufferance. It's a funny contrast - his people, his father, the team around him - took pretty significant legal advice, detailed legal advice, consulted somebody who had served on the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"[They] prepped up what they thought would be legal evidence that they were free to leave. When the whole thing breaks down Leo Messi says 'I would never take Barcelona to court'.
"You're talking about a real mix of hot and cold water. The cold water was that the deal with City was padded out, what would it be like in terms of playing, living, and getting paid?
Right to left @Phil_Coutinho
Left to right Leo #Messi pic.twitter.com/MWYR6q6muS— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 9, 2020
"The decision to leave was taken in more of a hot water [situation]. It had been there in his mind for months and months.
"The clash of saying 'I've got lots of legal advice but I would never take Barcelona to court', that talks about a deeply conflicted lad. I'm not calling him outright immature or boyish, but his unwillingness to go the full mark in leaving the club... I find that a contradiction.
"You feel betrayed by the people above you, and you feel dismayed by some of the playing resources around you. It's my prediction, it's not a fact, I think it's going to be a difficult relationship between Koeman and Messi."
Messi hit out at Barca President Josep Maria Bartomeu last week when announcing he was planning on staying, for now.
"I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.
"I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
"It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions."
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