Lionel Messi says he is staying with Barcelona for the upcoming season

Barcelona: Lionel Messi announced Friday that he will stay with Barcelona for the upcoming season.

Messi made the announcement in a video interview published by Goal.com. He said that he would not get into a legal dispute with the club.

The decision ended an impasse over his future after he had told Barcelona that he wanted to leave the club for free at the end of the season.


Barcelona wanted him to finish his contract that runs until the end of 2021. It claimed that the clause invoked by Messi to leave had expired in June and said that he had to pay the buyout clause of 700 million euros ($837 million) if he wanted to depart now.

There had been no agreement when Messi's father and Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu met on Wednesday to discuss the player's future, with Jorge Messi saying his son wanted to leave and Barcelona saying it would not facilitate his transfer.