Lionel Messi Wants to Stay at Barcelona; Discusses Release Clause, More

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has played down rumours he could leave the club this summer, saying his plan is to stay at the Camp Nou.

Messi's future has been a hot topic since a public row with club director Eric Abidal earlier in February. Per The Independent's Mark Critchley, his contract contains a clause allowing him to terminate it for free, and Manchester City were keeping an eye on proceedings.

But in an interview with Mundo Deportivo (h/t The Spanish Football Podcast), Messi said he has no intention of leaving Catalonia and that he has never considered an exit:

He also touched on the Abidal controversy, saying he felt attacked:

Per RAC 1 (h/t Juan Jimenez of AS), Abidal said certain players didn't train hard enough under former manager Ernesto Valverde. That led to a response from Messi on social media, calling on the director to name them.

The public spat quickly led to transfer rumours involving the likes of City and Juventus. City boss Pep Guardiola told reporters he didn't want the 32-year-old to leave his current club, per Goal's Chris Burton, and Bianconeri manager Maurizio Sarri side-stepped the question:

Messi has spent his entire professional career at the Camp Nou, winning a staggering 10 La Liga titles. He has also won the Copa del Rey six times and led Barcelona to four UEFA Champions League titles.

He's the all-time top scorer for the Blaugrana by some distance, scoring 622 official goals. With the exception of the 2015-16 campaign, he has led Barcelona in scoring in La Liga in every season since 2010.

The 2019-20 season has been another strong one for Messi, who has scored 14 goals and added 12 assists in 19 La Liga appearances. Things have been rocky for the club at times, however, with a coaching change in January and underperformance.

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The Argentinian praised Valverde in his interview, saying the players were "more to blame" and that it's a shame how things ended for him at the Camp Nou.

He also touched on the latest controversy involving president Josep Maria Bartomeu, which is being dubbed Barcagate. Bartomeu allegedly hired a firm to improve his image at the cost of others at the club.

Messi told Mundo  (h/t Sport) the situation is a strange one and that he will wait to see what evidence surfaces before commenting in detail.