Messi Says He Will Stay At Barcelona, But Slams Club Management As A ‘Disaster’

TOPLINE

Despite wanting to leave Barcelona, Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi has decided to avoid a legal dispute and stay at the club next season, he told Goal.com in an emotional interview on Friday, ending weeks of speculation around his potential transfer away from the Spanish team.

The soccer legend opened up about the ‘brutal’ transfer saga and his decision to stay at Barcelona.

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KEY FACTS

The 33-year-old striker, who has spent 20 years with Barcelona, initially announced late in August that he intended to leave the club on a free transfer.

But Barcelona refused to recognize the break in his contract, saying he missed a June 10 deadline to opt out and that any team interested in buying him would have to pay the full $823 million release clause—a record fee for the sport which few, if any, teams could afford.

Messi announced on Friday, however, that he would not take Barcelona to court and would remain at the club in order to avoid a legal dispute over his contract, which will keep him at the Camp Nou for another ten months.

“I wasn’t happy and I wanted to leave,” Messi said, while also criticizing Barcelona’s management and club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, as a “disaster.”

“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,” Messi told Goal.com in an interview describing the heartbreaking saga.

“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,” he explained.

Crucial quote

Despite clearly wanting to leave, Messi said he “would never go to court against Barça because it is the club that I love… Barça gave me everything and I gave it everything.” He added, “this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club… the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the $823 million release clause, and that this is impossible.”

Big number

Messi is one of the highest-earning players ever in the sport. Barcelona plans to pay him $93 million this upcoming season—an amount that would help make Messi the fourth athlete to earn more than $1 billion in career earnings, pretax, according to Forbes’ estimates.

Key background

Before Messi announced his decision to remain at the club, transfer rumors ran rampant about where he could go next. English Premier League team Manchester City briefly emerged as a clear favorite to sign the Argentinian superstar, with a reunion with manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City looking likely, ESPN had reported. Manchester City were one of the few teams with a big enough budget to afford Messi: The club was previously willing to pay between $118 million and $177 million for the superstar.