After almost 10 days of speculations, Lionel Messi will finally stay in Barcelona until at least 10 more months, when his contract expires. Check out the video of Messiâs full interview with Goal.com, in which he explains the reasons thatmade him change his mind.
The Argentine superstar was very critic with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the clubâs entire board. Messi explained that he has been askingto leave Barca for some time, but the club officials didnât give it much thought.
Last week, Bartomeu reportedly said that he was willing to resign if Messi decided to stay. But with one condition: he wanted the six-time Ballon dâOr winner to publicly say that he was the problem. Well, maybe Messi did not say that Bartomeu was the main problem or the big reason why he wanted to leave. However, he admitted there are differences between the two parts.
Now that Messi has decided to stay for al least one more season, whatâs gonna happen with Barcelona president Bartomeu? Will Messi and Bartomeu be able to resolve their differences? The fans, for their part, had already made themselves heard and were very critical of the clubâs president.
Watch video of Lionel Messiâs full interview
Messi thought that he was going to be able to leave for free, but Barcelona had other plans. The club would only let Messi go if his âŹ700 million release clause was paid, something even Messi said was impossible. Manchester City were supposed to be his next destination, but nothing of that happened.
The only possible way to force his departure would be dragging Barcelona to court, but he didnât want to do that to his belovded club. Another reason of his decision was his family, who didnât want to leave the city.
The saga is over, at least for now. Messi will face another season with Barcelona, and will try to achieve a new Champions League trophy and keep breaking records, as he has been doing so far as one of the best soccer player in history.
