Lionel Messi to Stay at Barcelona to Avoid Legal Battle, Gives up Fight to Shift to Transfer to Manchester City

Lionel Messi has given up the fight to shift to Manchester City and has instead opted to stay back at Barcelona for yet another season. He did this to avoid a legal battle and the six-time Ballon d’Or winner confirmed the news and said that he was unhappy and thus wanted to leave the Catalan Giants. Messi had been at Barcelona ever since the start of his career. No sooner Messi announced about staying back at Barcelona, the fans could not keep calm and flooded the Internet with tweets. During an interview, Messi said that no sooner he expressed the desire to leave the club there was a lot of trauma to his family. Lionel Messi to Stay at Camp Nou? No Agreement as Jorge Messi Father of Argentina Star Meets Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu.

In the interview, Messi said that his kids started crying as they did not wish to change their schools. "The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools. But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it because it is very difficult, but you have to compete," he said in an interview.

Barcelona had reportedly claimed €700m from anyone who wanted to sign Barcelona's captain. It was widely reported that Messi wanted to go to Manchester City and the team was all set to pick him up. The 33-year-old also claimed that he could not even think of dragging his boyhood club into the court.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2020 10:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).