Messi to stay at Barcelona after all

(Patria) - The soap opera surrounding Lionel Messi's status has finally come to an end. World media have been reporting daily in the past period that the Argentine is leaving Camp Nou after 20 years, however, in the end, none of it will happen.

After hours of talks with the club's management, Messi has decided to stay at Barcelona for at least one more season and then decide what's next as a free agent, but he is far from happy with this outcome.

“I wasn’t happy and I wanted to leave. This was not allowed in any way and I will stay at the club so as not to get into a legal dispute. The club management led by Bartomeu is a disaster,” Leo Messi told Goal.com, and the interview was published at 6 PM.

He didn’t stop there.

“I thought and was sure that I could leave freely, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide whether to stay or not. Now they insist that I did not inform them of my departure before June 10, and we were still competing in the league then due to the coronavirus. I will stay at the club because the president told me that the only way to leave without paying the 700 million euro clause, which is impossible. The other option was to go to court, and I would never do that because Barcelona is the club I love, the club that has given me everything since I arrived.”

Messi will now begin preparations for the new season under new coach Ronald Koeman.