Lionel Messi Insists He Acted With Barcelona's Best Interests in Mind Over Summer

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has insisted that everything he did to try and leave Camp Nou during the summer was always with the club’s best interest in mind.

Following on from a disastrous season that culminated in an 8-2 annihilation at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Messi informed Barça officials of his intention to trigger a clause in his contract allowing him to leave as a free agent.

Barça rejected his request, claiming the option had expired over two months earlier. Backed by La Liga, they insisted any club wishing to sign him must trigger his €700m buyout clause. However, despite the date passing Messi believed it was still active because the spirit of the agreement to let him go really meant the end of the season, which had obviously been heavily delayed.

The 33-year-old ultimately backed down because he refused to start a bitter legal battle with the club that has given everything to him over the last 20 years.

Messi now spoken publicly for the first tie since deciding to stay at Camp Nou, telling SPORT that he wishes to draw a line under the whole situation.

“After so many disagreements, I would like to bring an end to everything,” he explained. “We all have to be united and assume that the best is yet to come. I take responsibility for my errors and if they existed, it was only to make FC Barcelona better and stronger.”

Perhaps biggest of all, Messi insisted everything he did and said had been for the good of the club. 

“I wanted to send a message to all the fans that follow us. If at any moment, any of them were annoyed by something that I said or did, let there be no doubts that anything I did was always with the club's best interests in mind,” he said.

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