Lionel Messi who joined Paris Saint-Germain this August from Barcelona has confirmed that he will move back to Barcelona once his spell at PSG ends.
Follow Us
Lionel Messi who joined Paris Saint-Germain this August from Barcelona is already plotting about returning to Catalonia. The Argentine legend has confirmed that he will move back to Barcelona once his spell at PSG ends. The 34-year-old concluded his 21-year association with the Spanish giants this summer after the club failed to offer him a new contract because of financial constraints and Messi said goodbye in an emotional press conference before joining the Parisians on a two-year deal.
Messi said returning to Catalonia was what he and his family wanted in the future. The father of three admitted that he misses everything about the Catalan club where he spent more than two decades.
Meanwhile he described his first month and a half spell at PSG as ‘bad’. He and his family were living in a hotel and although they have moved to a rented house, he still misses not being able to do the school run before and after training like he did at his old club.
In an interview with Catalan daily Sport, the 34-year-old said: “I don’t know if that’ll happen when my PSG contract is up. What’s almost confirmed and certain is that we’ll return to Barcelona to live and our lives will be there.
“That’s what my wife and I want. I don’t know what’ll happen when my PSG contract ends, but we’ll go back to live in Barcelona.
“I’ve always said I’d love to be able to help the club do well in any way that I can be useful. I’d love to be a technical director at some point.
“I don’t know if that’ll be at Barcelona or if it might work out differently.
“If the option is there, I’d love to contribute again in any way that I can because it’s the club that I love and I’d love it to keep doing well, growing and remain one of the best in the world.”
Messi said he missed everything about Barcelona.
“It was a lot of time in the same place, the routine, the daily way of life, going into a changing room I knew like the back of my hand.
“Moving to Paris was a complete change. It meant arriving somewhere that was totally new, both the city and the club.
“I loved the life I had in Barcelona, the club and it’s something I miss although it doesn’t mean things are not good here.”
“Everything was easy and nearby. I would take the children to school and go back home, then head to training, return home for something to eat and go and pick the kids up.
“Today I don’t have time to take the children to school and pick them up and go to training.”
Messi was subbed before the break, during PSG’s previous Ligue 1 match against Lille because of a slight muscular problem. Meanwhile PSG boss Maurico Pochettino insisted that the substitution was more of a ‘precaution’.
The six-time Ballon D’or has scored thrice in the Champions League for his new club but hasn’t yet opened his Ligue 1 account and has faced criticism from the French media.
Responding to Barcelona president Juan Laporta’s claims last month he had hoped Messi would stay and play for nothing to ease the club’s financial problems, he said: “Never at any moment did they ask me to play for free. They asked me to reduce my salary by 50 per cent and I did it without any problem.
“We were willing to help the club more. My desire and that of my family was to stay in Barcelona.
“No one asked me to play for free, but at the same time, the president’s words were inappropriate. It hurt because I don’t think there was any need to say that.
“It’s like taking the ball from you and not accepting the responsibility or taking charge of things. That makes people think and generates doubts that I don’t think I deserve.”
PSG would next travel to RB Leipzig for the Champions League group stage encounter on Thursday.
