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eFootball PES 2021

Konami won't talk about Messi leaving FC Barcelona

"Since we haven't received an official announcement from the Club, we cannot say anything at this point..."

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Even if you're not particularly fond of football, you'll probably have heard that Lionel Messi, one of the best players in football history, could potentially leave Barcelona, the team he has always played for. Reports even go so far as to link Messi with a move to Manchester City, to be reunited with former coach Pep Guardiola.

Now, why all this football talk on a videogame website I hear you ask? Well, it's because Messi has been eFootball PES's main brand ambassador for the past few years.

This poses a contractual problem. A partnership has tied Konami to the Catalan football club since 2016. The Argentinian player is on the cover of PES 2020 and is also on the recently revealed cover of next year's iteration. However, if Messi ends up signing a contract with another team, say Manchester City, which partners with EA Sports, Konami might lose its muse. The Japanese company's partnership with Premier League teams only affects Manchester United and Arsenal, teams Messi will probably not join (though he totally should join Arsenal).

In order to shed some light on Konami's reaction to this turn of events and the potential change to PES 2021's cover, we tried to contact them and got this answer:

"Since we haven't received an official announcement from the Club, we cannot say anything at this point. Konami uses players' names and portraits strictly according to the contract, and we will discuss with licensers to act accordingly."

Officially, Konami is waiting for news before acting. However, the company already went through a similar situation three years ago when Neymar decided to join Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian star was featured on PES 2018's cover and Konami was forced to hastily change it.

Will that happen again this year?

eFootball PES 2021

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