Barcelona: The speculations over Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona finally came to an end after the talismanic forward revealed on Friday (September 4) that he won’t be the Catalan club. The decision comes in to avoid a court battle with the club about his contract.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner had the entire world on his feet when he reportedly announced he is leaving Barcelona following their 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich in Champions League quarters. He insisted a clause in his contract allowed him to do so on a free transfer. On the other hand, Barcelona said that a 700 million euros ($824 million) release clause would have to be paid.
“I wasn’t happy and I wanted to leave. I have not been allowed this in any way and I will stay at the club so as not to get into a legal dispute. The management of the club led by Bartomeu is a disaster,” Messi was quoted as saying to Goal.com.
🚨 WORLD EXCLUSIVE 🚨
Lionel Messi will NOT be leaving Barcelona, we can confirm.
We sat down with the man himself to clear up a few things 🐐
Here’s what he had to say: pic.twitter.com/NfnhGpZpXc
— Goal (@goal) September 4, 2020
“There was another way and it was to go to trial,” he added. “I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived. It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.”
“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I thought and was sure that I was free to leave. The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not. Now they cling 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 middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.”
The 33-year-old Argentine added, “When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama. The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools.”
