Lionel Messi has confirmed he is staying at Barcelona for the 2020/21 season but admits he is frustrated and angry with the club.
The Argentine star insists he would never go to court against the club to seek his exit and whilst he believed it was time to move on, this will now not be possible for him as he rules out legal action.
It follows Messi news from Argentina on Wednesday that there was now a 90 percent chance that he would stay at the Camp Nou for the upcoming season.
“I would never go to trial against the club of my life, that’s why I’m going to stay at Barcelona,” Messi told an exclusive interview with Goal.com.
“I told the club, especially the president, that I wanted to go. I’ve been telling him all year. I believed it was time to step aside. I believed that the club needed more young people, new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over.
“I always said I wanted to end my career here and I always said that I wanted to stay here. Also, I wanted a winning project and to be able to win titles with the club to continue expanding the legend of Barcelona. The truth is there has been no project or nothing for a long time.
“They (the club) juggle and they’re plugging holes as time go by. As I said before, I always thought about the well-being of my family and the club.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the locker room.
“Bartomeu has always told me that at the end of the season I could decide whether to stay or leave, but he hasn’t kept his word.
“I am going to continue at Barça and my attitude is not going to change no matter how much I wanted to go. I will do my best. I always want to win, I’m competitive and I don’t like to lose anything. I always want the best for the club, for the dressing room and for myself.
“I said it at the time that it wasn’t enough for us to win the Champions League. Actually, now I don’t know what will happen. There is a new coach and a new idea. That’s good, but then we have to see how the team responds and if it will give us or not to compete.
“The burofax was to make it official in some way. Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to go, that the time had come to seek new challenges and a new direction in my career.
“Sending the burofax was making it official that I wanted to go and that I was free and that I would not use my final year. It was not to make a mess, or to go against the club, but the way to make it official because my decision had been made.
“What they argue is that I did not send the burofax before June 10, but we were in the middle of all the competitions and it was not the moment to say it. Apart from that, the president always told me ‘when the season is over, you decide if you stay or leave’, he never set a date.”
The 33-year-old has a clause in his deal allowing him to leave at the end of any season, and whilst it was thought that deadline passed in June, Marca had reported his camp believe that it has been extended in line with the prolonged 2019/20 season.
The legalities of Messi’s contractual situation had then taken centre stage with reports claiming his €700m release clause at the club is no longer valid although this remained unclear with conflicting claims on the legal grounds on each side.
With the club refusing to budge from their position of allowing Messi to leave the club without court action, the player backed down on his claims and will now remain at the Camp Nou.
