Lionel Messi has in an interview with Sport opened a book about his departure from Barcelona. The Argentine attacker says he is disappointed with the words of chairman Joan Laporta, who would have sowed doubts about the reason behind his departure from the Camp Nou.
Laporta said last month he was not angry with Messi, but was disappointed with his departure last summer. “I hoped until the last minute that Messi would say he wanted to play for us for free, but we can’t ask that from a player of his caliber,” the Barcelona president said. Messi is disappointed with those words, because he says he was never asked to play for the current number nine in LaLiga for free.
Barcelona failed to renew Messi’s expiring contract last summer. Due to financial problems, the club had to let the star player go. “The truth is, as I explained when I left, I did everything possible to stay. I was never asked to play for the club for free. I was asked to hand in fifty percent of my salary and I did so without any problems. We wanted to help the club. My family and I wanted to stay in Barcelona.”
Messi thinks Laporta’s words are out of place. “They hurt me because he didn’t have to say that. It’s like losing the ball without thinking about the consequences and feeling responsible for those consequences. These words make people have doubts, doubts that I don’t think I deserve,” Messi said.
The Paris Saint-Germain attacker indicates in the same interview that he hopes one day to return to Barcelona as technical director. After his career as a professional football player, he will in any case live in Barcelona again. “I don’t know when my contract with PSG ends. But what is certain is that we are going to live in Barcelona again and our life will be there. That’s what my wife and I want,” Messi said.
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