Uruguayan star, Luis Suarez is convinced that Lionel Messi will remain at Barcelona if the club appoints a new board, which would include replacing current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Argentinian superstar, Messi was close to leaving Barcelona in the summer, informing the Catalans he wanted to activate a release clause in his contract, before going back on his decision when he decided to stay to avoid a potential court battle against the club.
The 33-year-old, whose contract expires at the end of the 2020-21 season, still appears to be unhappy with the club’s hierarchy, believing that Bartomeu and Co. have done poorly to build a winning team around him for some time.
READ ALSO: Oduduwa Republic: How Yoruba Nation Can Achieve Aim Without Bloodshed – Gani Adams
“The truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by,” Messi said.
Messi’s frustration was part of the reason that a vote of no confidence will proceed against Bartomeu, who could be forced out of his position.
Suarez, who himself left Barcelona last month when he signed with Atletico Madrid, revealed that he spoke to his good friend often about his desire to leave Barcelona.
“Out of respect for the relationship I have with Leo, I’m not going to say what we talked about at the time, but he lived through a difficult and complicated situation,” Suarez told ESPN.
“He wanted to leave and the club did not want him to. I tried to support him, take care of him and distract him a little.”
Suarez believes that is part of the reason Barca wanted him out – because he had become too close to Messi.
“I think they wanted to get me away from Messi’s side, perhaps it bothered them that I have a good relationship with Leo,” he said. “Maybe they wanted him not to be with me so much.”
The new Atleti signee added that he does not believe Messi’s desire to leave the Catalan giant had anything to do with the club’s treatment of him, though Messi has since taken swipes at Barca’s behaviour toward the striker.
“That Messi wanted to leave Barcelona was not a gesture towards me. They should have respected his decision to leave,” Suarez added.
Suarez also disclosed that he will respect whatever the six-time Ballon D’or winner decides to do after the current campaign but he believes that if there is a change at the top, the Argentine will be more inclined to stay at Camp Nou.
“There may be the possibility that Messi plays for another club, but if he feels comfortable, happy again and another board arrives, he will want to continue at the club,” Suarez said.
“As a friend, I’ll be happy if he does well there and if he has to go to another club, I’ll be happy too.”
READ ALSO: ‘You live with it’ Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James says after Green’s miss
Leave a Reply