Messi confirms he will stay at Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Barcelona ace forward, has rescinded his decision to leave the Catalan giants.

The Argentinian, who has played for Barca for almost 20 years, had last week informed the club he wants to leave.

But on Friday, Messi said he is staying because it is “impossible” for any team to pay his release clause.

“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,” Messi told Goal.

“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 €700m (£624m) clause, and that this is impossible.

“There was another way and it was to go to trial. 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.”

It now means he would remain at the club for another 12 months before leaving for nothing next summer.

La Liga, organisers of the Spanish Premier League, had earlier issued a short statement to deny claims by Jorge Messi Jorge, father of the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, that he no longer had a €700 million buyout clause in his contract.