Lionel Messi's father insists that the Barcelona star's €700million release clause does not apply - but LaLiga have reiterated their stance that the clause is valid.
Messi's father, Jorge, has written to LaLiga insisting the player is contractually allowed to leave Barcelona for free in the current transfer window.
The league had stated last weekend that it believed a buyout clause of 700million euros still applied, but Jorge Messi - who also acts as the player's agent - insists the player's contract allowed him to exercise an option to leave at the end of the 2019-20 season.
In the letter sent on Friday, Messi senior argues that his son's contract does not specify a date when the option to leave must be exercised, simply that it must be done at the end of the campaign.
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Barca's season ended on August 14 when they were hammered by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Messi's representatives sent a fax to the club on August 25 expressing his desire to leave.
LaLiga agreed with Barcelona that the buyout clause was still applicable in its statement on the matter last Sunday, and responded to Messi's letter on Friday afternoon by claiming Messi's camp have made a "decontextualised interpretation" of the situation, moving away from the "literality" of the contract.
Last Sunday a league statement read: "In compliance with the applicable regulations, and following the corresponding procedure in these cases, LaLiga will not carry out the prior visa process for the player to be removed from the federation if they have not previously paid the amount of said clause."
Messi, who has been with the Catalan club since the age of 13, did not arrive for a scheduled club coronavirus test last Sunday morning.
Since news of Messi's desire to leave became public, a handful of the world's richest clubs have been linked with him, including Manchester City, whose manager Pep Guardiola was his boss at Barca between 2008 and 2012.
It has been reported that he is unhappy with the direction of the club under its current president Josep Bartomeu.
Additional reporting by PA.
