Luis Suarez leaving Barcelona for Juventus

His move comes as Lionel Messi announces he will spend another season with the club to avoid legal drama.

Luis Suarez is leaving Barcelona.

After six seasons, the Uruguayan striker will be joining the reigning champions of Serie A, Juventus. He will move to Italy on a free transfer, or with a nominal fee, if he can negotiate his release from Barcelona.

Suarez joined Barcelona in 2014 on transfer from Liverpool and has scored 198 goals in 283 appearances. While he is close to Lionel Messi, who has been having his own drama with the Spanish giants, Suarez said that his decision had nothing to do with Messi’s choices.

The move to Juventus will pair Suarez with Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Real Madrid to join Juventus in 2018. Last season, Juventus beat Inter Milan in the Serie A title race by one point. They only made it to the Round of 16 in UEFA Champions League, losing to Lyon on away goals.

Barcelona’s implosion: what’s going on with the Spanish giants?

Barcelona has had a rough time since their 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in UEFA Champions League.

Lionel Messi expressed his desire to leave the club, but Barcelona said that he would have to pay a 700 million Euro fee to get out of his contract. La Liga backed Barcelona. Messi announced that he would be staying with the club to avoid the legal battle, but he didn’t sound happy.

“The truth is that there is no project at this club,” Messi said. “They just plug holes as and when things happen.”

This year left Barcelona trophyless, finishing behind Real Madrid in the La Liga title race and getting knocked out of UEFA Champions League in the quarterfinals. They fired manager Quique Setien and replaced him with Dutch manager Ronald Koeman. But it’s clear that Barcelona’s issues go beyond who is managing the men on the pitch.