That future is expected to take him to Paris, and Messi didn’t deny that was a possibility, but did deny it was done. Why keep going if it’s an impossible cause? I have to think of my future and career, too.” I heard they asked for more and that’s not true.”Īsked why this decision was made now, why the door wasn’t left open a little longer, he replied: “Because the club has a big debt and doesn’t want to make it bigger and they realised they couldn’t, and the league wouldn’t allow it. I had dropped 50%, we had agreed a contract, and I wasn’t asked for more. It felt notable that he replied to that suggestion, to queries as to whether there was anything he could have done, by saying: “They didn’t ask me to.” He added: “I did all I could to stay and it wasn’t to be. Naturally, if unrealistically enough, there was also the idea that Messi could have somehow rescued everyone – again – by playing for free. With the market open until the end of August there was still time for a solution.
LIO MESSI YOUTUBE FULL
I don’t know the full mechanics of, all I know is that it wasn’t to be because of the league, the club’s debt and the club didn’t want to get more into debt.” It wasn’t to be because of the reasons we said but from my point of view, I never misled anyone. We had it all sorted out, there was no problem, and we were always honest with people. He added: “We were all convinced that it was going to happen.
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I can tell you that I did all that I could to stay, because I wanted to stay.” Yet when he was pushed as to whether anyone had misled him, he insisted: “No, we all did what we could.” Laporta said we couldn’t do it because of the league. ”Īsked if Barcelona had done all they could to keep him, Messi replied: “I don’t know, what I am clear about is that I did everything I could. I never had any doubts: we were decided, we would. And after that I was quite convinced that I would continue, that there would be no problem. After the elections, I went to eat with the new president and we talked. “I thought it was all sorted, but at the last minute because of the league thing it couldn’t happen,” Messi said. He had decided not to accept La Liga’s proposal to sell 10% of its commercial business to the investment fund CVC, and thus turned down the cash injection that would have facilitated Messi’s deal, describing it as a 50-year mortgage he could not accept. There are hints of a bigger battle behind the scenes, Barcelona and Real Madrid still clinging to the Super League project, Laporta unwilling to fall into line with La Liga. The trophies won by Barcelona during Lionel Messi’s time at the club are presented at his press conference. He had returned from holiday in Ibiza to sign, not to sign off. Maybe even that the club had backed out, thrown in the towel, their priorities elsewhere despite all the protestations. Let him have this moment first, his goodbye, even if wasn’t a moment he wanted and certainly not the way he wanted it – fans at the gate of a stadium that has stood empty for 18 months.Īlthough Messi confirmed the explanation offered by Joan Laporta, the club president, that in the end he had been unable to continue because Barcelona could not comply with La Liga’s salary limits, there was also a lingering sense that he had felt let down. There were questions to be asked, although some remain unanswered.Īnother announcement is expected soon, but Messi wasn’t revealing his destination. It went on for two minutes, interrupted only by the need to proceed. When Messi had finished those awkward introductory words there was a standing ovation. The 34-year-old described this as the worst moment of his career. When I get home from here the penny will probably drop more and it will be even worse,” he said. Yet there was still an impact in hearing it from him, in listening to a reality he too had failed to foresee.
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Everyone knew that, barring some fantasy scenario, some incredible twist of last-minute salvation. “We were convinced we were continuing here, at home.”
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“ Last year it was, this year it wasn’t,” he said. After 21 years, 17 seasons in the first team, and having won 35 trophies, which were displayed to the side of him, Messi is leaving Barcelona. And then Messi said it, the thing that really mattered: not where he will be playing next season, although that is set to be Paris Saint-Germain, but where he will not be playing.