After ten hectic days, Lionel Messi has told the world he will stay at Barcelona for the 2020-21 season.
The Argentine spoke to Goal España and admitted that, even though he pushed hard to leave, having to enter a legal battle with Los Blaugranas was not part of the plan. Hence, he has chosen to live out the rest of his contract and see how things go under Ronald Koeman.
"I told the club, especially to the president, that I wanted to leave. I've been telling him the same all year. I thought it was the right time for me to go. I believed that the club needed younger people, newer guys, and I believed that my time at Barcelona had ended. I was deeply saddened by it, especially since I always said I wanted to stay here until the end of my career," Messi said.
The player admitted that Josep María Bartomeu's negotiation tactics had a lot to do in his final decision, mainly because he never wanted to take Barcelona to trial.
"I would have never taken Barcelona to trial because it's the club that I love. It's given everything to me since I got here, I have my life here. Barcelona has given everything to me and I've done the same. The thought of taking the club of my life to trial never crossed my mind," Messi stated.
The Argentine ace took the opportunity to aim more digs at the team's front office for what Messi has seen as a lack of interest in making Barcelona succeed.
"I always said I wanted to end my career here, that I wanted a winning project and keep winning titles with this club, so Barcelona's legend would be bigger. But honestly, it's been quite a while since there has not been a solid project, the guys in the front office go around juggling balls and covering holes in the team as things happen. As I said before, my family's stability and the club's future where the first thing on my mind when I said what I wanted to do," Messi added.
With Messi stating that he thought about leaving the club for almost the entire season, he tried to explain what he was trying to accomplish with the famous fax he sent over ten days ago to Barcelona's headquarters.
"The burofax was something I thought that would make my exit official in some way. I told the president that I wanted to leave for over a year, that I thought the time had come for me to search for new dreams and a new path in my career. He always turned me down and kept postponing that meeting. In a way, he never wanted to sit down and talk about it. Sending the burofax was the legal argument I found to say that I wanted to leave and that I was not going to live out the rest of the deal. I never wanted to cause any trouble, and legally I was entitled to it, because I had made up my mind about it," Messi said.
Messi also discussed how the coronavirus pandemic had a huge influence in him staying at Camp Nou.
"We all thought that I was free to leave. The president always told me that I could decide if I stayed or not by the end of the season, and now they are saying that, since I did not let them know by June 10, I couldn't do it. So it happens, when June 10 came, we were battling to win La Liga due to this shi**y virus that altered all dates," Messi said.
Last, but not least, Messi vowed his loyalty to the Blaugrana side, ruling out any hard feelings or lack of motivation to play what could be his "last dance" at Camp Nou.
"I will keep playing for Barcelona, and my attitude will not change one bit, even if I pushed so hard to leave. I will give my all. I always want to win, I'm a competitive guy and I don't like to lose in any aspect of the game. I will always want what's best for me, for the locker room, and for the club," Messi concluded.
