Messi returns to Barca training

Lionel Messi has returned to training with Barcelona for the first time since his shocking decision to hand in a transfer request.

On Monday morning, Barca tweeted an image of the talismanic forward posing in the pink shirt of their third kit for 2020-21.

In an extraordinary turn of events, Messi, 33, last month informed Barcelona he wanted to depart this summer and intended to utilise a clause in his contract which he and his representatives claimed allowed him to do so on a free transfer.

The Barca board, led by President Maria Bartomeu, insisted the time had passed for the clause to be activated and that the player would need to pay the €700m release clause in his contract if another club wanted to sign him this summer.

Messi subsequently revealed in an interview that he had reversed his decision, saying he could never go to court against the club to secure a move.