Barcelona’s damaging 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals revealed many holes in the Catalans construction, but the overriding image was that of Lionel Messi trudging disconsolately from the Portuguese pitch.

Just a fortnight on from that demolition, of course, Setien has gone and Ronald Koeman has replaced him as the Nou Camp’s new manager. He said when he arrived that his first challenge was hopefully not going to be convincing Messi to stay.

Now, a week later, Messi’s transfer request arriving at the fax machines of those in power at Barcelona prove that the inevitable is coming – Messi wants out.

So where could the Argentinian magician go?