Messi would not be leaving, he wants to end his career while playing for Barcelona: Bartomeu
Aug 19, 2020
Barcelona [Spain], Aug 19 : Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said that striker Lionel Messi would not be leaving the club as he wants to end his career while playing for the Catalan side.
His remarks come as severe speculation is doing the rounds about Messi's future at the club.
"Messi wants to end his career while playing at Barcelona. I regularly speak to him and his father. He's part of our project. Koeman will be the new manager and he told me that Messi is a key player for our new project," Bartomeu told Barca TV.
"The renovation will be as deep as necessary. I decided to give this generation the opportunity for another year. Perhaps it was time to start the renovation last year," he added.
Barcelona was given an 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and since then, the club has been dealing with a crisis.
Head coach Quique Setien and technical manager Eric Abidal have already departed and Bartomeu confirmed that Ronald Koeman will be the new coach of Barcelona.
Bartomeu also brushed aside the rumours of Neymar coming back to Barcelona as he said that PSG does not want to sell their star striker.
"Neymar back to Barcelona? PSG doesn't want to sell him this summer. We're not in talks for Lautaro Martinez right now, we stopped negotiations with Inter at the end of June. We'll see what will happen," Bartomeu said.
Barcelona had to endure a trophy-less 2-19-20 campaign.
The side had finished at the second place, behind Real Madrid in La Liga standings for the 2019-20 season.
Setien was the second Barcelona head coach to be sacked this year. Setien had replaced Ernesto Valverde, with the latter being sacked following a loss to Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana despite being at the top of La Liga at the time.
Setien recorded 16 wins, four draws, and five defeats during his time with Barcelona.
