Lionel Messi was on the verge of leaving Barcelona in the summer but then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused to let him go and he eventually remained at Barcelona.
Bartomeu has now resigned and a new president will be elected on 24th January. The new president may have a huge role to play in Lionel Messi’s future at Barcelona.
Messi has now given an exclusive interview with La Sexta’s Jordi Evole. Here’s what he had to say about his future:
Evole: You will be a free agent in a matter of days. Will you start to talk to clubs next week?
Messi: No, far from it, that would go against what I’m saying …. my plan is to all I can for the club at the moment.
Evole offered Messi travel guides to Manchester and Paris but Messi rejected the gift and said: you hang on to them!
Messi: I would like to play in the United States and experience life and the league there…. but ultimately come back to Barcelona in some capacity. I’m not thinking too far ahead in the short term and just want to see how the season finishes.
Evole: Things will end in a fairy tale ending if you decide to stay with Barcelona?
Messi: That’s true, all my life in this city …good and bad times and we’ll just have to wait and see how things work out
So maybe Messi is hinting at a stay at Barcelona in the upcoming seasons as long as he plays in Europe and then goes to the MSL in the United States in the last stage of his career.