Former Barcelona assistant Coach Henk Ten Cate claims Lionel Messi is only still at the club because of a promise made to Tito Vilanova.
The Dutchman, Frank Rijkaard’s No 2 at the Camp Nou between 2003 and 2006, believes the Argentine is far from happy under boss Luis Enrique and told Der Telegraaf there have been problems for a while.
“As far as I know these problems started around two years ago. Messi is only at Barcelona because of a promise he made to [former boss] Tito Vilanova on his deathbed," revealed Ten Cate.
“However, I think a transfer would be in everyone’s best interests because Leo has been with Barca quite a while and needs a new challenge.
“At the moment he is worth a lot of money but his value will only start to decrease from now. I really want to be supportive as he’s been at another level for 10 years, but I’m not sure he’ll ever get back to his best.
“It’s not normal to shine like he has done. Most big names can only sustain it for seven or eight years and, to be truthful, he wasn’t at his best last season either, even if the statistics were still great.”
Messi was a close friend of Vilanova, who lost his battle with cancer in April 2014 aged just 45.
