He literally stated in his comments that he doesn't want a legal dispute. They've all had talks, and Barca has supposedly stated 700mil or no. Yes if he still wants to go come next year, he will more than likely leave on a free. La Liga already stated the free clause wouldn't be extended this year even after COVID and any club would have to pay the release clause.
Lionel Messi
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
- Status
He’s played his hand really well here. Elections are coming next year and there’s no way that current board will stay. They will either leave now or stay for a year, but next year he will get to choose new manager and signings and will stay at Barca for life.
Even though Man City would have been his most likely destination in the prem, it was never happening. It was almost amusing watching them all wetting themselves thinking they were signing him.
Was all a power move. He'll get truck loads of money thrown at him to keep him sweet via loyalty bonuses etc and when he does leave, he will go to Serie A or back to Newell's old boys. I still think he will be there for the 21/22 season aswell. City were never getting him this summer, it was a case of 2+2=5 by the media due to Pep and Tkiki being ex Barca; and the press ran with it.
Messi will never play in the premier league, which is a shame. He has slagged off the current regime publicly in that interview which more or less guarantees a new president gets elected. He runs that club almost. New president comes in, runs the club properly, Messi is happy.
Was all a power move. He'll get truck loads of money thrown at him to keep him sweet via loyalty bonuses etc and when he does leave, he will go to Serie A or back to Newell's old boys. I still think he will be there for the 21/22 season aswell. City were never getting him this summer, it was a case of 2+2=5 by the media due to Pep and Tkiki being ex Barca; and the press ran with it.
Messi will never play in the premier league, which is a shame. He has slagged off the current regime publicly in that interview which more or less guarantees a new president gets elected. He runs that club almost. New president comes in, runs the club properly, Messi is happy.
Yeah I'd say he go city next summer for free. He gets a loyalty bonus of Barca next summer. He is doing a Gareth Bale this season, collect huge wage and not give a toss.
Prick...no doubt got a massive payrise too
Pretty solid comments from Messi. Highlights his love for he club, calls Bartemeu a trainwreck and reiterates that he wants to move on and the club needs a fresh start. All seems logical to me. Barcelona need to hope and pray the next board is better than this shambolic one.
Stoke City 1 Messi 0
Imagine Martial going onnTV and calling Ed a cnut. This is fantastic.
I knew it was all attention seeking rubbish.
Unless its a figment of my imagination, which player did a presentation or special announcement and just said "i stay"?
Melodramatic garden gnome
Viva Ronaldo
Viva Ronaldo
Griezmann, a year before forcing his way out to a rival
Barcelona as a club and the Barca board are different entities.
Right on, it was a power move and I think towards the elections he will dangle his desire to stay just to seal the deal. The board is done and he will have influence over who comes in.
Full Interview
“When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama,” Messi told Goal.
“The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools.
“But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.
“At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out.”
“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,” he said.
“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.
“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”
“There was another way and it was to go to trial," he added. “I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived.
“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.
“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”
“Mateo is still little and he doesn't realize what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere,” he said.
“Thiago, he is older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.
“I didn't want him to know anything about being forced to leave, to have to live in a new school, or make new friends.
“He cried to me and said ‘let's not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.
“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.
“I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.
“My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.
“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”
“I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I've been telling him that all year. I believed it was time to step aside”
“I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.
“It did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern, no – I had been thinking about the decision for a long time.
“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”
“Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to leave, that the time had come to seek new goals and new directions in my career,” explained Messi. “He told me all the time: ‘We'll talk, not now, this and that’, but nothing. The president did not give me a clue at what he was really saying.
“Sending the burofax was making it official that I wanted to go and that I was free and the optional year – I was not going to use it and I wanted to go.
“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.”
He added: “If I don't send the burofax, it's like nothing happens, I have the optional year I had to have continued all year.
“What they say is that I did not say it before June 10 – but I repeat, we were in the middle of all the competitions and it was not the moment.
"But 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, and well, it was simply to make it official that I wouldn't continue, but not to start a fight because I didn't want to fight against the club."
“Of course I had a hard time deciding. It does not come from the Bayern result, it comes from many things,” he stressed. “I always said I wanted to end here and I always said I wanted to stay here. That I wanted a winning project and to win titles with the club, to continue expanding the legend of Barcelona.
“And the truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by. As I said before, I always thought about the welfare of my family and the club."
“I will continue at Barca and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have 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 we were not given the support to win the Champions League," the Argentine added. "Actually, now I don't know what will happen. There is a new coach and new ideas.
“That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and whether or not it will give us to compete at the top level. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best for Barcelona.”
"I didn't feel alone, not alone. There are those who have always been by my side. That is enough for me and strengthens me.
“But I did feel hurt by things that I heard from people, from journalists, from people questioning my commitment to Barcelona and saying things that I think I didn't deserve. It also helped me to see the truth in people.
“This world of football is very difficult and there are many fake people. This happening has helped me to recognise many fake people. It hurt me when my love for this club was questioned.
“No matter how much I go or stay, my love for Barca will never change."
“It has hurt me a lot that things are published against me and above all, that false things are published," Messi said. "Or that they came to think that I could go to trial against Barca in order to benefit myself.
“I would never do such a thing. I repeat, I wanted to go and it was entirely my right, because the contract said that I could be released. And it is not, 'I'm leaving and that's it'. I was leaving and it cost me a lot.
“I wanted to go because I thought about living my last years of football happily. Lately I have not found happiness within the club.”
"I always put the club before anything else. I had the possibility of leaving Barca many times," Messi said.
“Every year I could have left and earned more money than at Barcelona. I always said that this was my home and it was what I felt and feel."
“To decide there was somewhere better than here was difficult. I felt that I needed a change and new goals, new things”.
"As usual, I am going to give my best, we will do my best to fight for all the objectives and hopefully I can dedicate myself to the people who have had a bad time," Messi said.
“I had a bad time this year, but it is hypocritical to say that if you compare it with people who have really had a bad time with the coronavirus, with people who have lost relatives and who have lost many things.
“Hopefully I can give my best and dedicate victories to all those people who accompany us and their families, to be able to dedicate the best to those people who are having a bad time and that we can overcome once and for all we can overcome this virus and return to normality."
“When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama,” Messi told Goal.
“The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools.
“But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.
“At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out.”
“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,” he said.
“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.
“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”
“There was another way and it was to go to trial," he added. “I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived.
“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.
“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”
“Mateo is still little and he doesn't realize what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere,” he said.
“Thiago, he is older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.
“I didn't want him to know anything about being forced to leave, to have to live in a new school, or make new friends.
“He cried to me and said ‘let's not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.
“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.
“I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.
“My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.
“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”
“I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I've been telling him that all year. I believed it was time to step aside”
“I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.
“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.
“It did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern, no – I had been thinking about the decision for a long time.
“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”
“Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to leave, that the time had come to seek new goals and new directions in my career,” explained Messi. “He told me all the time: ‘We'll talk, not now, this and that’, but nothing. The president did not give me a clue at what he was really saying.
“Sending the burofax was making it official that I wanted to go and that I was free and the optional year – I was not going to use it and I wanted to go.
“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.”
He added: “If I don't send the burofax, it's like nothing happens, I have the optional year I had to have continued all year.
“What they say is that I did not say it before June 10 – but I repeat, we were in the middle of all the competitions and it was not the moment.
"But 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, and well, it was simply to make it official that I wouldn't continue, but not to start a fight because I didn't want to fight against the club."
“Of course I had a hard time deciding. It does not come from the Bayern result, it comes from many things,” he stressed. “I always said I wanted to end here and I always said I wanted to stay here. That I wanted a winning project and to win titles with the club, to continue expanding the legend of Barcelona.
“And the truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by. As I said before, I always thought about the welfare of my family and the club."
“I will continue at Barca and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have 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 we were not given the support to win the Champions League," the Argentine added. "Actually, now I don't know what will happen. There is a new coach and new ideas.
“That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and whether or not it will give us to compete at the top level. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best for Barcelona.”
"I didn't feel alone, not alone. There are those who have always been by my side. That is enough for me and strengthens me.
“But I did feel hurt by things that I heard from people, from journalists, from people questioning my commitment to Barcelona and saying things that I think I didn't deserve. It also helped me to see the truth in people.
“This world of football is very difficult and there are many fake people. This happening has helped me to recognise many fake people. It hurt me when my love for this club was questioned.
“No matter how much I go or stay, my love for Barca will never change."
“It has hurt me a lot that things are published against me and above all, that false things are published," Messi said. "Or that they came to think that I could go to trial against Barca in order to benefit myself.
“I would never do such a thing. I repeat, I wanted to go and it was entirely my right, because the contract said that I could be released. And it is not, 'I'm leaving and that's it'. I was leaving and it cost me a lot.
“I wanted to go because I thought about living my last years of football happily. Lately I have not found happiness within the club.”
"I always put the club before anything else. I had the possibility of leaving Barca many times," Messi said.
“Every year I could have left and earned more money than at Barcelona. I always said that this was my home and it was what I felt and feel."
“To decide there was somewhere better than here was difficult. I felt that I needed a change and new goals, new things”.
"As usual, I am going to give my best, we will do my best to fight for all the objectives and hopefully I can dedicate myself to the people who have had a bad time," Messi said.
“I had a bad time this year, but it is hypocritical to say that if you compare it with people who have really had a bad time with the coronavirus, with people who have lost relatives and who have lost many things.
“Hopefully I can give my best and dedicate victories to all those people who accompany us and their families, to be able to dedicate the best to those people who are having a bad time and that we can overcome once and for all we can overcome this virus and return to normality."
People said the same for Pep...
exactly, just posturing.
This. Bartomeu knows he won't be reelected so he doesn't give a shit if all goes south. The only reasonable decision was to let Messi leave for a decent fee (~100m) and get rid of his enormous wages. The only reason he's still in his position is because the other board members would have to bear the liabilities of the club in his stead. After this interview and the accusations of fraud, there's no way Bartomeu survives this. This means the other board members are in charge and they'll get cold feet because they fear for their very own assets. Now a 100m offer from City comes flying in for a player who wants to leave and regardless of that has the sympathies of the fans on his side after this interview.
This story isn't dead yet.
Probably buy his great granddad (deceased over a 1000 years) an island somewhere and give them a stake in city football group to “bypass” FFP.
I find it incredible people think this is over. That interview is basically saying the board have lied to me, I am legally allowed to leave for free, I love the club too much to take it through a messy court battle, I want to leave for a fair price and they can rebuild on younger players with the money which is best for the club but the board won’t accept anything under 700m and I’m being forced to stay against my wishes. Oh and the President is a disaster.
I don’t think that’s a tenable position for Barcelona to take against their greatest ever footballer and the pressure on the board is even bigger now.
I don’t think that’s a tenable position for Barcelona to take against their greatest ever footballer and the pressure on the board is even bigger now.
Nice to see another club get played like a fiddle for once
Damn what a turnaround. I wish I had stuck some serious moolah on Messi remaining at Barca before the end of this transfer window. I am sure that was some pretty good odds.
Doesn’t sound like Messi wants to be there. He should do a gareth Bale and take up golfing and sleeping on bench.
Disappointed in this news. I would have enjoyed watching Messi in the premier league.
Disappointed in this news. I would have enjoyed watching Messi in the premier league.
Have we ever seen a more acrimonious public split between a legend and his club?
So what happens after the end of next season? He goes to City on a free?
I find it incredible people think this is over. That interview is basically saying the board have lied to me, I am legally allowed to leave for free, I love the club too much to take it through a messy court battle, I want to leave for a fair price and they can rebuild on younger players with the money which is best for the club but the board won’t accept anything under 700m and I’m being forced to stay against my wishes. Oh and the President is a disaster.
I don’t think that’s a tenable position for Barcelona to take against their greatest ever footballer and the pressure on the board is even bigger now.
[/QUOTE]
Its absolutely over, it was never happening to start with - he is publicly outing the board yes, but he is also confirming he will stay. It doesnt get more clearer than that. He has apparently done a "u-turn" in doing so, and he isnt going to do a u turn, on a u turn. haha. He will stay, get rid of the board and be happy and delighted to play under Xavi after this season with Koeman
I don’t think that’s a tenable position for Barcelona to take against their greatest ever footballer and the pressure on the board is even bigger now.
[/QUOTE]
Its absolutely over, it was never happening to start with - he is publicly outing the board yes, but he is also confirming he will stay. It doesnt get more clearer than that. He has apparently done a "u-turn" in doing so, and he isnt going to do a u turn, on a u turn. haha. He will stay, get rid of the board and be happy and delighted to play under Xavi after this season with Koeman
Cant knock any of that.
I’m astounded by that statement.
This is a player that has become bigger than a club.
Amazing historical stuff.
This is a player that has become bigger than a club.
Amazing historical stuff.
staying at Barca? boriiiing
Why are Barca asking for 700 million, fair enough that his buy out but nobody is paying that fee.
They could easily get 100 million plus for him, why not get rid of the bad egg and put the funds towards two or three players with potential. They can't rebuild with a 33 year old anyway.
How much does people think he's worth?
They could easily get 100 million plus for him, why not get rid of the bad egg and put the funds towards two or three players with potential. They can't rebuild with a 33 year old anyway.
How much does people think he's worth?
Good, nothing would've been more irritating than a hybrid of Barca and Messi fans masquerading as City fans next season, we've seen glimpses of them in this thread.
So he's going to wait until Bartomeu leaves the club, but the liklihood is that Koeman will also leave after Bartomeu yet Koeman will be expected to play Messi until then.
Rather their club than us.
Rather their club than us.
Would you mind explaining how that interview above made you come to that conclusion?
In return they got one of the greatest players ever to play the game off whose name they have made 100's of millions, pretty sure those would have helped pay for whatever cost it was Barcelona paid for his surgery and other expenses, the fans are quite rightly pissed off, messi has had his prime wasted by mediocre coaching and transfer decisions. What was the point of signing a player for 100mn when his best position is the same as the position of your best player. The barca board has made decisions that make woodward and co look competent in comparison.
What happened between Utd and Beckham is not the same as what is happening between Barca and Messi. They aren't even picking between a club or a player, its the player and a politician. If asked to choose between Sir Alex and Beckham, there aren't many utd fans who will chose Beckham as good as he was. How many do you think given the choice between Messi and Bartomeu will choose Bartomeu.
good interview. It seems that the family is very adapted to Barcelona.
He talks about his desire to leave in the past tense but leaving the future in the air
Exactly, he was just posturing..if he wanted to leave that badly, he could have left (~100M). Barcelona needs money, all LaLiga teams need money. Now they will watch Messi leave for free? Barcelona pres was praying for Messi to take this court (to then put the full blame on Messi while getting ~100M from City).
Strange. What's wrong with it, exactly?
- Status