Lionel Messi Gives The Longest And Most Personal Interview Of His Career On TV

Lionel Messi has given the most personal interview of his career and discussed all aspects of Barcelona, including his long-term future and the club's direction.

The six-time Ballon d'Or winner was involved in a public transfer saga with the Catalan giants last summer and nearly left.

He opted to stay to avoid a legal battle with his employers of two decades. Now, in a tell-all interview with La Sexta, Messi has revealed numerous lawyers informed him he'd have won any form of court case.

Per @barcacentre he said: "Leaving for free last summer? I knew that if we went to court, we would have won. Not just one lawyer told me that, many did. But I didn't want to leave in that way.

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"I will not negotiate with other clubs. I will wait for the season to end and in June I will decide."

An official burofax of Messi's transfer request was sent to Barcelona's offices over the summer and sent shockwaves across the footballing world.

Among the clubs interested in the Argentine's signature were Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

When asked if he would send the burofax again despite the controversy, Messi replied per Fabrizio Romano: "I spent the whole year telling [former president Josep] Bartomeu that I wanted to leave Barcelona.

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"But the president always said 'No'. The burofax was a way to make it official. I thought I had completed a cycle. I needed a change. I wanted to go, Barca cycle was over.

"My kids were saying that they didn't want to leave, but I felt it was the best for me. I felt like a cycle was over."

The summer saw Barcelona change managers after an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Ronald Koeman took over from Quique Setien and Barca currently sit fifth in La Liga.

"These days I am feeling well," Messi continued.

"I had a really bad time last summer with the burofax and all that, and before.

"But now I feel good, excited to fight for everything in front of us. But the club are going through difficult moment, the team too. Everything around Barca is difficult.

"I know that things at Barca are really, really bad. It will be difficult to get back to where we were."

Among other topics discussed were his reaction to the death of Diego Maradona, his dream of playing in the United States and seeing himself as a sporting director in retirement.

Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Champions League, La Liga

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_