Lionel Messi admits the earlier impasse between him and the Barcelona board under Josep Maria Barthomeu over his attempts to leave the club in the summer did impact his form this season, in which he has posted his lowest goal and assist tallies so far in 13 years.
Consternation was rife at Barca when Messi told the club that he wanted to leave in August, and and things seemed set for a reunion with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.
However, Bartomeu blocked the move and the Argentine was left with no recourse but committed to stay this season to avoid a legal battle. Now he has less than seven months left on his contract and is able to negotiate with other clubs from January 1.
The Barcelona talisman’s future remains unclear, with Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain also reportedly very keen to lure Messi over to the French republic to reunite with Neymar, despite the club owners playing coy at this period in time.
The truth is Messi has not been at ease on the pitch this season and has been far from his usual best. His Barcelona team have struggled for form, too.
“Everything that happened before the summer, how the season ended, then the burofax and everything else… I dragged everything into the start of the season a bit,” Messi said in an interview with Spanish television channel La Sexta.
“THE TRUTH IS RIGHT NOW I’M FEELING FINE BUT IN THE SUMMER I HAD A VERY BAD TIME.”
Messi, who finished top scorer in La Liga last season and routinely gets more than 40 goals each year for his club, has only scored nine times in all competitions this campaign, five of which came from the penalty spot.
He also has no assists in 13 league games after contributing 21 last season, making the start of this campaign his worst since the 2007-08 season, when he was 20-years-old and suffering from injuries.
Although clearly under-performing this campaign, with his side trailing leaders Atletico Madrid by eight points in La Liga, the flashes of brilliance are still there without a doubt, salaciously teasing but not released in full. It’s only the desire and the urgency that had been lacking so far.
On Saturday the Argentine scored his 643rd goal for Barca against Valencia to equal Pele’s goals record for a single club.
“Right now I’m feeling good and looking forward to fighting for every competition we have ahead,” he added. “I know the club is in a difficult moment at institutional level and on the pitch and everything surrounding Barca right now is difficult, but I’m feeling excited.”
Barca’s presidential elections are just around the corner in January to pick the successor to the grossly inept Bartomeu, who resigned in October, and Messi has all this while remained tight-lipped on where his future will lie, and there’s no guarantee that the next president will have the wherewithal and what ever it takes to keep the diminutive Argentinian at Camp Nou.