Lionel Messi has received support from Barcelona great Carles Puyol and current team-mate Luis Suarez amid reports that he wants to leave Camp Nou after 20 years.
Questions over the Argentine superstar's future have intensified over recent weeks after the club finished a season trophy-less for the first time since 2007/08, losing their LaLiga crown to bitter rivals Real Madrid and being humiliated 8-2 by eventual winners Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Both new head coach Ronald Koeman - appointed on a two-year deal to succeed Quique Setien, who was sacked shortly after that Lisbon debacle - and club president Josep Maria Bartomeu have publicly voiced their wish to see Messi remain in Catalonia, though the situation now appears to have escalated significantly.
Widespread reports on Tuesday night claimed that Messi - who has been at Barca since the age of 13, winning a glut of major silverware and a record six Ballon d'Or awards - had now asked to leave the club.
BBC Sport reports the 33-year-old has sent a fax to Barcelona outlining his desire to exercise a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for free with immediate effect this summer.
The Associated Press (AP), meanwhile, say Barcelona have confirmed the existence of the document to them, but insist the deadline for activating said clause expired in June.
Messi's current deal includes a buyout clause set at a mammoth €700million.
Amid all the drama unfolding on Tuesday night, Barcelona icon and ex-captain Puyol appeared to express support for his former team-mate.
"Respect and admiration, Leo. All my support, friend," the Spaniard wrote on Twitter.
Further headlines were made when the official account of Messi's current team-mate Luis Suarez then responded to that Puyol post with a tweet of his own that featured only two clapping emojis.
Speculation has also been rife regarding Suarez's future over recent days, with reports suggesting that his contract - which still has one year left to run - will be terminated as he does not feature in Koeman's plans for the future.
