Messi bids farewell to Neymar as club confirms departure of Brazilian

Barcelona: FC Barcelona star forward Lionel Messi on Wednesday bid farewell to teammate and "friend" Neymar after the Catalan giants confirmed that the Brazil star is set to leave.

"It was an enormous pleasure to have shared these years with you Neymar, friend. I wish you a lot of luck in the next stage of your life. See you," Messi wrote on Instagram.

Neymar came to Barca's training ground on Wednesday morning to confirm he is leaving for French club Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

Messi wrote "TKM," which means "te quiero mucho" or "love you a lot."

Spanish football club Barcelona on Wednesday confirmed that Neymar has told the club that he has decided to leave.

An official statement on Barça's website said that the player, his father and his agent informed the team of the decision early in the morning at the club's offices, before heading to the Joan Gamper sports city to bid farewell to his teammates who were involved in an official training session, reports Efe.

"Faced with this position, the club has informed them they refer to the buy-out clause of his existing contract which, as of July 1, totals 222 million euros ($262.6 million), which will have to be deposited in its entirety," the statement said.

It added that "the player remains under contract at FC Barcelona but with temporary permission to not take part in training sessions."

Neymar is set to join French heavyweights Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) in a world record transfer fee of £198 million ($261.86 million). The deal would see the forward pocket around $35.57 million every year.

Neymar joined Barcelona in 2013, forming a hallowed partnership with Messi and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez. They were called "MSN".

MSN led Barca to a treble in 2015, scoring 364 goals between them across three seasons.