Sports

Koeman reveals what would have happened if Messi left Barcelona

Published

4 years ago

October 18, 2020

Barcelona manager, Ronald Koeman, has admitted he would have been in a difficult situation if Lionel Messi left the club this summer.

Messi had informed the Catalan club of his desire to leave for Manchester City.

However, the LaLiga giants insisted on any potential buyer paying his full £630million buy-out clause in his contract

Koeman met with Messi and convinced him to stay for one more season at least and the player eventually made a u-turn.

He said: “I was always hoping Messi would stay for this season. If he had left in the summer, I would have had a very different situation at Barca.

“He wanted to leave but the club was very clear to him. The buy out clause was so high, that not a single club in the world was going to pay that in these times.

“I went to his house and took time to listen to all the things he said. But I also explained to him that I had not been a part of the problems he had with the club and told him how I was going to work to change things.

“We ended up talking football tactics. It ended as a proper football chat and that convinced me he is a real lover of the game and he still wanted to put everything he has into Barcelona.”