Lionel Messi said he would stay in Barcelona and insist he could never go to court against the “club of his life” but launched a stabbing attack on President Josep Maria Bartomeu.
He accused Bartomeu of having agreed to let him leave for free at the end of last season.
“The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide whether to leave or stay and in the end he didn’t keep his word,” Messi said in an interview with Goal published today.
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 I was free,” said Messi. “The president has always said that at the end of the season I can choose whether to stay or not, and now they’re sticking to the fact that I didn’t say it until June 10th when it turned out we were on June 10th for the league in the middle of this s ** tty virus and disease that changed all the data. “
Messi added, “And that’s why I’m going to continue at the club … because the President told me the only way to go is to pay the € 700 million (A $ 1.1 billion) release clause.
“That’s impossible, and then the other way was to go to court. I would never go to court against Barca because it’s the club that I love, that has given me everything since I arrived, it’s the club of my life, I’ve made my life here. “
Messi had applied to leave the club he had joined as a boy after Barcelona’s humiliating 8-8 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Manchester City became his favorites.
His lawyers sent a burofax to Barca on August 25 stating his intention to leave, but Messi said he had made his feelings clear to Bartomeu long before that.
“I told the club, especially the president, that I wanted to leave,” said Messi. “I’ve been telling him all year. I thought it was time to step aside.
“I believed the club needed more young people and new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I was very sorry because I always said that I wanted to end my career here.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the locker room. Everything became very difficult for me and at some point I thought of new goals, new horizons.
“It wasn’t the result of the Champions League against Bayern, I had thought about it for a long time. I said to the president, and the president always said, that at the end of the season I can decide whether to go or stay, and in the end he didn’t keep his word. “
Barcelona ended the season without a trophy for the first time since 2008, extending Messi’s unsuccessful Champions League run to five years.
He has scored 634 goals and won 34 titles with the club he joined when he was 13 and where he climbed through the ranks at La Masia.
Messi said his decision to leave left his wife and three sons in tears.
“When I told my wife and children that I wanted to leave, it was brutal drama,” he said. “The whole family started crying, my children didn’t want to leave Barcelona or change schools.
“(Son Matteo) called to me and said: ‘Let’s not go’. I repeat that it was really hard.
“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision. “
Despite his dissatisfaction with staying, the Argentine insists that he will give everything for the team next season under new coach Ronald Koeman. His contract expires next June.
“I will continue at Barca and my attitude will not change no matter how hard I wanted to leave,” Messi said.
“I’ll do my best. I always want to win, I’m competitive and I never like to lose.” Messi wasn’t in pre-season training last week when he tried to force a move.
“I said before we couldn’t win the Champions League. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen, ”he added.
“There’s a new trainer and a new idea. That’s good, but then we have to see how the team reacts and whether it means we can compete or not. What I can say is that I will stay and do my best. “
It remains to be seen whether Bartomeu will continue to be president and whether his position appears untenable after such a severe reprimand from the greatest club player of all time.
Bartomeu reportedly offered to step down if Messi publicly said he was the problem and agreed to stay.
“It’s been a long time since there was a project or something,” Messi said of the club’s leadership. “They always juggle and fill in gaps.”
AFP
.
