Monday, November 1st, 2021
Did the president lie?
Messi’s anger is directed at Barcelona
Things are not going so well for Lionel Messi at Paris St. Germain. He would have preferred to stay with his club, FC Barcelona, anyway. But that was not possible for known reasons. Now a mud fight threatens. Of course it’s about the love of money again.
Before moving to Paris St. Germain, superstar Lionel Messi said he was not asked whether he would play for free in view of the financial crisis at his longtime club FC Barcelona. “Nobody asked me to play for free at Barça,” he said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “Sport”. Messi said goodbye in tears after 21 years at FC Barcelona in August and went to Paris on a free transfer, where PSG made him a better offer.
Barça president Joan Laporta recently said he was hoping for unusual accommodation from the Argentine superstar before the move. “I would have liked if Messi had said at the last moment that he was playing for free,” Laporta had told RAC1. Messi described this statement as completely out of place. “Laporta’s words hurt me,” he confessed. That would sow Laporta doubts that he, Messi, really don’t deserve.
Messi wants to go back to Barcelona
“In fact, it was just as I said when I left. I did everything I could to stay. I was asked to cut my salary by fifty percent, and I did that with no problem. We were ready for that To help the club even further. My and my family’s wish was to stay in Barcelona, ”said the 34-year-old.
In the meantime, however, they have settled in well in Paris. The city is beautiful despite the climate: “We are happy.” The Argentine left it open whether he would return to FC Barcelona after the end of his two-year contract with PSG. He loves the club and would like to become a sports director there one day. But that will show, said Messi. In any case, he and his family wanted to live in Barcelona again in the long term. “This is what my wife wants and I want it.”
Despite FC Barcelona’s current sporting crisis, Messi expressed confidence about the club’s future. “The team is great and plays well,” he said. “The club will always exist because it is one of the best in the world,” said the Argentine, who joined Barça at the age of 13.