Lionel Messi
Lionel
Messi saw arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo beat him to the Ballon d’Or in
Zurich and then reignited speculation over his own future by saying, “I
don’t know where I’ll be next year.”
Barcelona and Argentina superstar Messi
appeared to row back on his own comments made 24 hours earlier that
rumours that he could leave the Camp Nou for Chelsea or Manchester City
were “all lies”, reports AFP.
“I always said that I would finish my
career at Barcelona and then at (his home town club in Argentina)
Newell’s,” Messi told reporters after Real Madrid’s Portuguese icon
Ronaldo lifted the world footballer of the year title for the second
year in succession at Monday’s glittering FIFA awards ceremony.
“But I don’t know where I’ll be next year.
“As Cristiano (Ronaldo) said recently,
football has many twists and anything can happen,” added the Barca
talisman, who himself won the Ballon d’Or four years in a row from 2009.
After a superb performance in Barcelona’s
3-1 win over Spanish champions Atletico Madrid on Sunday, Messi had
angrily dismissed talk that he wanted to leave after clashing with
Barca’s manager Luis Enrique and the club’s board.
“I have never demanded anything to ensure that I stay because I never had any intention of leaving,” he told Barca TV after the match.
Messi’s relationship with Enrique had
come under scrutiny after the forward was benched for the 1-0 defeat at
Real Sociedad a week earlier. The rumours grew after Messi missed the
first training session after that match, citing a stomach bug.
“I have heard it said that my dad has
spoken to Chelsea or Manchester City. It is all lies. I have taken this
chance to deny it so that everyone knows the truth,” Messi said Sunday.
But his latest comments are sure to regenerate interest from a number of cash-rich English Premier League clubs.
Manchester United are reportedly one of
the few that could afford the buyout fee from his contract, reportedly
set at 250 million euros (195 million pounds, $296 million), without
falling foul of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.
With Messi commanding a reported salary
in the region of 20 million euros a year the total cost of acquiring his
services on a five-year deal could be a world record-shattering 350
million euros.
0 comments:
Post a Comment