Argentine star Lionel Messi confirmed on Friday that he will be going nowhere other than staying at Barcelona despite insisting he wanted to leave the club with a free transfer. Messi said he would never want to drag the Catalans to court over the 700 million euro buyout clause that has sparked a disagreement between the two sides.
In an interview with Goal.com, Lionel Messi said that he would stay at Barcelona and that his attitude will never change despite his attempt to force an exit after his trophy-free season in 2019-20.
Messi, last week, sent a burofax to Barcelona, saying he was invoking a contract clause that allowed him to leave for free at the end of the season. However, Barcelona claimed that the clause had expired in June. Barcelona said they wanted Messi to stay until the end of his contract in June 2021.
Messi’s father and agent, Jorge, had arrived in Barcelona earlier this week to hold talks with the higher ups. He published a letter to La Liga on Friday dismissing his claim that a 700 million euro release clause still applied to his son’s contract. The Spanish league had backed Barcelona on Sunday, saying Messi’s contract was still valid hours after the Argentine star failed to attend a preseason medical exam.
“I will continue at Barça and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have wanted to go. I will do the best I can. I always want to win, I am competitive and I don’t like to lose anything. I always do. I want the best for the club, for him. dressing room and for me “, said Messi.
“I thought and was sure that I was free to go, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide whether to stay or not.
“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 La Liga in the midst of this terrible coronavirus and this disease was altered all season.
“And this is the reason why I will continue at the club. Now I’m going to continue at the club because the president told me that the only way out was to pay the 700 million clause, and that this is impossible.
“I love Barcelona and I will not find a better place than here. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to seek new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything ”.
My decision to leave the club was not sudden: Messi
“I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I have been telling him that all year. I thought it was time to step aside,” Messi told Goal.
“I thought that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time at Barcelona was over. I was very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
“He did not come because of the result of the Champions League against Bayern, no, he had been thinking about the decision for a long time.
“I told the president and, well, 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 keep his word.”
Messi was linked to several European giants, including Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, but the € 700 million release clause was a major hurdle.
Meanwhile, Messi revealed that his family was having a hard time coping when he announced that he would leave Barcelona after the Champions League disaster.
“Mateo is still young and he doesn’t realize what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere. Thiago, he’s older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.
“I didn’t want him to know anything about the obligation to leave, have to live in a new school or make new friends. He cried at me and said ‘let’s not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really. It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.
“My son, my family, grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone. My wife, with all the pain in her soul.” , supported me and accompanied me “.
