In this May 25, 2012 photo, Barcelona's coach Josep Guardiola (left) embraces Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (right) at the end of the Spanish King's Cup final football match between Athletic Bilbao and FC Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid. (JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)

MADRID - The bombshell dropped by Leo Messi with his request to leave FC Barcelona continues to take up nearly all of the football agenda in Spain and with some papers publishing constant updates of the situation, it is likely to do so for a long while with speculations over a possible destination and its effects on FC Barcelona.

Manchester City are looking as if they are the favorites to sign Leo Messi, due to his wish to once again work with his former manager Pep Guardiola

One of the immediate effects of the news was for around 200 fans to protest outside of the club's offices at the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday to demand the resignation of club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Catalonia Radio reported that Bartomeu has asked Messi for a face-to-face conversation to try and resolve the issue, but meanwhile speculation continues as to where Messi will play his football next season.

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There are three likely destinations if he leaves Barca: Manchester City, Inter Milan and Paris Saint Germain, with Manchester City looking as if they are the favorites, due to Messi's wish to once again work with his former manager Pep Guardiola.

Both PSG and Manchester City have had problems with UEFA over financial fair play issues and signing Messi and paying his wages would mean if either of these clubs wanted to sign the Argentinean they would probably have to sell players to make way.

Nevertheless the press are pointing to Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus (and perhaps Eric Garcia) as possible makeweights in any move, with Messi's countryman Kun Aguero apparently willing to surrender the 'number 10' shirt if Messi swaps Barcelona for Manchester.

The El Mundo Deportivo newspaper reports that Messi's father and representative, Jorge Messi has already begun talks with the English club, while the press also report that Barcelona are interested in Valencia's Uruguayan striker Maxi Gomez, although whether this would be to replace Messi or Luis Suarez is another issue.

READ MORE: Barca in new turmoil after Messi tells club he wants to leave

It also looks as if Messi is unwilling to risk losing the support of the fans and declare open rebellion against Barcelona and as such he is expected to report to Barcelona's training ground on Sunday when the squad are to undergo PCR tests for the coronavirus ahead of their return to training on Monday.

Wednesday saw Barca present Portuguese winger Francisco Trincao to the press, but unfortunately for Trincao for once a new arrival at Barcelona was not the big news story of the day.