An emotional
Lionel Messi confirmed on Sunday he was leaving FC Barcelona, the club he has
played for his entire life (21 years). He was in tears as he received a
standing ovation in his final Barcelona press conference. On Thursday, the same
day he returned from his post-Copa America holiday, Barcelona announced the
six-time Ballon d'Or winner would be leaving Barcelona.
"This year, my family and I were convinced we were
going to stay at home, that's what we all wanted more than anything," said
Messi.
"We'd always made this our own, we were at home.
We thought we would be staying here in Barcelona. But today, we have to say
goodbye to all of this."
"I
did everything possible and the club, Laporta, they couldn't do it because of
La Liga," said Messi.
"I've
heard things said about me, that I didn't want to continue, but on my life, we
did everything we could because I wanted to stay.
"Last
year, I didn't want to stay and I said it; this year, I wanted to stay and we
couldn't."
"I'm
not ready for this. And honesty, with all the nonsense with the burofax, I was
convinced of what I wanted to say," he added.
"We
thought we would be staying in Barcelona. The time we have had here has been
amazing."
PSG could likely be the next destination for Messi and
while he confirmed that joining the French giants was a possibility, he
insisted nothing was yet agreed.
He said:
"That's honestly one possibility, to reach those heights, but I've got
nothing confirmed with anybody.
"When the
press release was published, I had a lot of calls and a lot of clubs were
interested.
"At the
moment, I've not got anything closed, but we are talking about a lot of
things."
He also
confirmed he had agreed to take a 50 per cent wage cut during negotiations
over a new deal.
He said:
"I offered to reduce my salary by 50 per cent and they didn't ask me for
anything else.
"The news
that I'd asked for 30 per cent more is a lie. We did everything we could and it
wasn't possible."
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