Leo Messi is not going anywhere, full stop.The 4 time Ballon d’Or winner has spoken out to dispel the rumours that are casting a doubt on his playing career at FC Barcelona.
For the past couple of weeks, the club has been in turmoil over the sacking of Andoni Zubizarreta, losing their appeal regarding the FIFA ban, legend Carles Puyol walking out half an hour after Zubizarreta’s dismissal and Messi’s “apparent upset” with manager Luis Enrique for benching him.
It’s been a tough few weeks and certainly a time that the club would like to forget very quickly. This led to speculation that Chelsea or Manchester City could offer a place to Messi with president Bartomeu insisting that neither Messi nor Luis Enrique will be leaving the club.
Chelsea were also quick to douse the fires and assistant coach Steve Holland denied any such deal with the Argentine.
Finally, Leo Messi has spoken out on Barça TV, criticising those he feels are out to unsettle the Catalan club.
“I don’t demand anything for me to stay because I have no intention of leaving anywhere,” he said.
“I’ve heard stories I’ve spoken to Chelsea or City, that’s all lies.”
He went on: “I’ve heard so many things. There have been things said in the past that I have bad relationships with (Pep) Guardiola, (Samuel) Eto’o, Bojan, Ibra (Zlatan Ibrahimovic), that’s not true.
“I never asked for them to get rid of the coach or anybody. That’s not true, I would never do that.
Ok, so we’ve now heard it from the horses mouth as it were and Barcelona’s fans should sleep better for it. To top that off, Messi, Suárez and Neymar all scored last night in Sunday’s 3-1 win over an unrecognisable Atlético Madrid in La Liga. Mandzukic scored a penalty for Atlético to ease the scoreline a little. FC Barcelona are now 1 point behind League leaders Real Madrid.
