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MADRID – Lionel Messi said on Friday that he will remain at Barcelona and insisted he could never go to court against “the club of his life” but launched a fierce attack on president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
He accused Bartomeu of backing out of a deal to let him go free at the end of last season.
“The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not end up keeping his word,” Messi said in an interview with Goal, broadcast. on Friday.
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The 33-year-old forward believed he had a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave for free at the end of the season, but Barcelona said that option expired on June 10.
“I thought and we were sure that he was free,” Messi said. “The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not and now they hold on to the fact that I did not say it before June 10 when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for the league in the middle of this virus shit and this disease that altered all the dates. “
Messi added: “And this is the reason why I will continue at the club … because the president told me that the only way out was to pay the termination clause of 700 million euros.”
“This is impossible, and then the other way around was to go to trial. I would never go to court against Barça because it is the club that I love, that gave me everything since I arrived, it is the club of my life, I have made my life here “.
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Messi had requested to leave the club he joined as a child following Barcelona’s humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with Manchester City emerging as favorites to sign him.
His lawyers sent Barça a burofax on August 25 indicating his intention to leave, but Messi says he made his feelings clear to Bartomeu long before.
“I told the club, especially the president, that I wanted to go,” Messi said. “I’ve been telling you all year. I thought it was time to step aside.
– ‘Everything became difficult’ –
“I thought the club needed more young people, new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over, feeling very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new goals, new horizons.
“It was not because of the result of the Champions League against Bayern, I had been thinking about it for a long time. I told the president and the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not end up keeping his word. “
Barcelona ended the season without a trophy for the first time since 2008, which also extended Messi’s failed streak in the Champions League to five years.
He has scored 634 goals and has won 34 titles with the club he joined at age 13 and where he passed through the ranks of La Masia.
Messi said his decision to leave left his wife and three children distraught. “When I told my family that I could go, it was a drama,” he said. “They all started crying.”
Despite his discontent at having to stay, the Argentine insists he will give it his all for the team next season under new manager Ronald Koeman, and his contract expires in June of next year.
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“I will continue at Barça and my attitude will not change, no matter how much I have wanted to go,” said Messi.
“I will do my best. I always want to win, I am competitive and I never like to lose.”
Messi was absent from preseason training last week as he kept trying to force a move.
“I said before that we could not win the Champions League. Now I do not know what will happen,” he added.
“There’s a new coach and a new idea. That’s fine, but then we have to see how the team responds and if that means we can compete or not. What I can say is that I’m staying and I’m going to do my best.”
It remains to be seen if Bartomeu remains president, with his position seemingly untenable after such a strong reprimand from the club’s best player.
Bartomeu reportedly offered to resign if Messi said publicly that he was the problem and agreed to stay.
“It’s been a long time since there was a project or anything at all,” Messi said of leadership at the club. “They’re always juggling and plugging holes.”
