There have been rumours that Lionel Messi will be leaving Barcelona in 2021 owing to the current mess with the board. He is also not in very good terms with the current President of Barcelona Josep Maria Bartomeu. In fact, many players from Barcelona have openly spoken about the mess going on in Barcelona. A couple of days ago Gerard Pique tore into the current President by saying that the club has spent a lot of money on criticising the players. This is said to be the reason for discontent for the players and Messi was one of them. The Argentine was on the verge of signing a contract with Manchester City earlier this year. Now Javier Tebas feels that if Messi leaves La Liga he could ruin his reputation. Lionel Messi Five-Year Contract With Manchester City Explained: Three Years in Premier League, Retirement at New York.

The La Liga President further went on to say it’s the league defines the players and not the other way round. He explained that it wouldn’t be a drama if Messi left La Liga. “Cristiano Ronaldo left, Neymar left. Neymar went to PSG and I haven’t seen the French league reaching a super level because of him,” said Tabas during an interview. He also had a piece of advice for the six-time Ballon d'Or winner and asked him to think through before signing on to any other club as he has taken a couple of decades to build the kind of a reputation he has now.

"It’s true he could get a better offer financially but with the reputation he has after more than 20 years, I think he has to hold onto that," said Tebad during an interview. Meanwhile, Barcelona has lost to Real Madrid in the El Clasico 2020-21 last night.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 25, 2020 03:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).