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It was last week that the news hit the soccer world like a bomb.
Lionel Messi, synonymous with FC Barcelona, had informed the Spanish club that he wanted to leave. And suddenly the parties seemed to be facing a legal battle.
In the last week, the headlines have been many.
On Friday night it was the turn:
Messi stops.
According to Messi it was Barcelona had to release him. But the club was supported by the league association, which said a release clause still applies.
Whoever wants to hire the Argentine must pay 700 million euros, equivalent to just over seven billion crowns.
– That is the reason why I will continue at the club, Messi tells goal.com.
– There was another way and it was to take him to court. But I would never go to the pitch against Barça because it is the club that I love that has given me everything since I came here. It is the club of my life.
Messi, 33, has belonged to Barcelona for two decades.
– When I expressed my desire to leave Barcelona for my wife and children, it became a brutal drama. The whole family started crying, Messi tells goal.com.
– But I looked further and wanted to compete at the highest level, win titles, challenge in the Champions League.
Chaos in Barcelona the last few weeks have hardly escaped anyone. In mid-August, the team was humiliated when Bayern Munich won the Champions League quarter-finals 8-2.
After that, Barcelona, among other things, changed coach to Dutchman Ronald Koeman. But Messi’s ambition to leave the club was not well received by Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the star said in Friday’s interview with goal.com.
– I was sure I was free to go, the president had always said that he could decide after the season if he wanted to stay or not.
– Now they insist that I should have said something before June 10, even though we were still playing in La Liga then, in the midst of this horrible corona virus. That illness changed throughout the season.
He adds:
– Now I am staying at the club because the president has said that the only way out is to pay the 700 million euro clause, and it is impossible.
Messi has He missed Barcelona’s pre-season training but will now prepare for the start of the league, writes goal.com. His contract expires in 2021.
