<p>Lionel Messi's grudging acceptance that he will have to stay put at Barcelona after losing his stand-off with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has left the Argentine superstar's future still in doubt.</p>.<p>The 33-year-old, who was absent from Barcelona training on Saturday the day after announcing he would reluctantly stay at the club, launched a stinging attack on Bartomeu claiming he had broken his word to let him leave.</p>.<p>The absence of any new contract means that even if he is not allowed to leave this summer, Messi could enter negotiations with other teams from January 1 and leave for free when his current deal expires in July.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/football/messi-admits-he-is-forced-to-stay-at-barcelona-but-long-term-future-in-doubt-882668.html" target="_blank">Messi admits he is forced to stay at Barcelona but long-term future in doubt</a></strong></p>.<p>The feeling that Messi's reluctant decision was by no means the end of the affair was clear in Spanish daily Marca's headline: "Messi stays, the crisis too".</p>.<p>Bartomeu could yet respond with his resignation, having previously indicated he would step down if Messi publicly said he was the problem and agreed to stay.</p>.<p>"It has been a long time since there has been a project or anything at all," Messi said in what another sports daily Mundo Deportivo described as his "devastating" interview with Goal on Friday.</p>.<p>"They are always juggling and plugging gaps."</p>.<p>Messi believed he had a clause in his contract that meant he could leave for free at the end of last season but Barca said that option expired on June 10.</p>.<p>"The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end, he didn't end up keeping his word," Messi said.</p>.<p>Also read: <strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/football/recovery-with-resentful-lionel-messi-brings-new-complications-for-barcelona-882912.html" target="_blank">Recovery with resentful Lionel Messi brings new complications for Barcelona</a></strong></p>.<p>"And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club... because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the 700-million-euro release clause."</p>.<p>He described that as "impossible", adding that he could never take "the club that I love" to court.</p>.<p>Messi failed to appear at Barca's Joan Gamper training complex for Saturday's training session attended by players including Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho.</p>.<p>According to local media, he must first pass the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html" target="_blank">Covid-19</a> test he deliberately missed last Sunday with a return to the squad possibly on Monday.</p>.<p>He could then figure in new coach Ronald Koeman's first fixture, a friendly against third division Nastic on September 12.</p>.<p>Barcelona responded to Messi's pledge by posting a picture of the striker on Instagram in the club's new kit, with the caption: "I'm going to give my best. My love for Barça will never change".</p>.<p>Messi had requested to leave the club he joined as a boy following Barcelona's humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City the favourites to sign him.</p>.<p>His lawyers sent Barca a burofax on August 25 stating his intention to depart but Messi insisted he had he made his feelings clear to Bartomeu long before.</p>.<p>"I told the club, especially the president, that I wanted to go," said Messi. "I've been telling him all year. I believed it was time to step aside."</p>.<p>"I believed that the club needed more young people, new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over, feeling very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here."</p>.<p>"It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new goals, new horizons."</p>.<p>"It wasn't because of the Champions League result against Bayern, I had been thinking about it for a long time. I told the president and the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end, he did not end up keeping his word."</p>.<p>Barcelona ended the season without a trophy for the first time since 2008, which also extended Messi's unsuccessful run in the Champions League to five years.</p>.<p>He has scored 634 goals and won 34 titles with the club that he joined as a 13-year-old and where he came through the ranks at La Masia.</p>.<p>Despite his unhappiness at having to stay, the Argentinian insists he will give his all for the team next season under Koeman, who is trying to overhaul the squad.</p>.<p>"I am going to continue at Barca and my attitude is not going to change, no matter how much I have wanted to go," Messi said.</p>.<p>"There is a new coach and a new idea. That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and if it means we can compete or not. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best."</p>
<p>Lionel Messi's grudging acceptance that he will have to stay put at Barcelona after losing his stand-off with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has left the Argentine superstar's future still in doubt.</p>.<p>The 33-year-old, who was absent from Barcelona training on Saturday the day after announcing he would reluctantly stay at the club, launched a stinging attack on Bartomeu claiming he had broken his word to let him leave.</p>.<p>The absence of any new contract means that even if he is not allowed to leave this summer, Messi could enter negotiations with other teams from January 1 and leave for free when his current deal expires in July.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/football/messi-admits-he-is-forced-to-stay-at-barcelona-but-long-term-future-in-doubt-882668.html" target="_blank">Messi admits he is forced to stay at Barcelona but long-term future in doubt</a></strong></p>.<p>The feeling that Messi's reluctant decision was by no means the end of the affair was clear in Spanish daily Marca's headline: "Messi stays, the crisis too".</p>.<p>Bartomeu could yet respond with his resignation, having previously indicated he would step down if Messi publicly said he was the problem and agreed to stay.</p>.<p>"It has been a long time since there has been a project or anything at all," Messi said in what another sports daily Mundo Deportivo described as his "devastating" interview with Goal on Friday.</p>.<p>"They are always juggling and plugging gaps."</p>.<p>Messi believed he had a clause in his contract that meant he could leave for free at the end of last season but Barca said that option expired on June 10.</p>.<p>"The president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end, he didn't end up keeping his word," Messi said.</p>.<p>Also read: <strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/football/recovery-with-resentful-lionel-messi-brings-new-complications-for-barcelona-882912.html" target="_blank">Recovery with resentful Lionel Messi brings new complications for Barcelona</a></strong></p>.<p>"And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club... because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the 700-million-euro release clause."</p>.<p>He described that as "impossible", adding that he could never take "the club that I love" to court.</p>.<p>Messi failed to appear at Barca's Joan Gamper training complex for Saturday's training session attended by players including Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho.</p>.<p>According to local media, he must first pass the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html" target="_blank">Covid-19</a> test he deliberately missed last Sunday with a return to the squad possibly on Monday.</p>.<p>He could then figure in new coach Ronald Koeman's first fixture, a friendly against third division Nastic on September 12.</p>.<p>Barcelona responded to Messi's pledge by posting a picture of the striker on Instagram in the club's new kit, with the caption: "I'm going to give my best. My love for Barça will never change".</p>.<p>Messi had requested to leave the club he joined as a boy following Barcelona's humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City the favourites to sign him.</p>.<p>His lawyers sent Barca a burofax on August 25 stating his intention to depart but Messi insisted he had he made his feelings clear to Bartomeu long before.</p>.<p>"I told the club, especially the president, that I wanted to go," said Messi. "I've been telling him all year. I believed it was time to step aside."</p>.<p>"I believed that the club needed more young people, new people and I thought my time in Barcelona was over, feeling very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here."</p>.<p>"It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new goals, new horizons."</p>.<p>"It wasn't because of the Champions League result against Bayern, I had been thinking about it for a long time. I told the president and the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end, he did not end up keeping his word."</p>.<p>Barcelona ended the season without a trophy for the first time since 2008, which also extended Messi's unsuccessful run in the Champions League to five years.</p>.<p>He has scored 634 goals and won 34 titles with the club that he joined as a 13-year-old and where he came through the ranks at La Masia.</p>.<p>Despite his unhappiness at having to stay, the Argentinian insists he will give his all for the team next season under Koeman, who is trying to overhaul the squad.</p>.<p>"I am going to continue at Barca and my attitude is not going to change, no matter how much I have wanted to go," Messi said.</p>.<p>"There is a new coach and a new idea. That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and if it means we can compete or not. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best."</p>