I am not confident Messi will stay- Barca Coach, Koeman

Head coach of FC Barcelona, Ronald Koeman, has admitted that he is not confident of the possibility of star man, Lionel Messi, remaining with the club after the 2020/2021 season. The Argentinean national team captain has entered the last five months of his contract with the Blaugrana and has maintained that he will wait until the end of the season to make a decision on his future. With interests from Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, and Manchester City, Messi who has spent the entire duration of his career in Barcelona might leave when the season ends after failing to do so last season.

So far, Messi has been instrumental to Barcelona’s campaign, scoring 16 goals out of 24 games to keep Barcelona in the quest for a treble this term.

Koeman who is impressed by the exploits of his captain on the pitch has revealed that he is hopeful but not confident about Messi’s future at the club.

I’m not confident about that. I’m hopeful, yes, about this because he’s still a great player and he’s still winning matches for us, for the team. I’m enjoying being his coach, if you look at his qualities every day in the training sessions, it’s incredible. Of course, he came as a young kid to Barcelona. And I still don’t see Leo Messi in another shirt other than the Barca shirt

Ronald Koeman

Quizzed on his relationship with Messi, Koeman stated that just like every other player in the club, he has a good professional relationship with the six times Ballon d’ Or winner.

I don’t have any problems with Leo. He is the captain of the team, I speak to Leo about tactical things and we have a really good professional relationship that I have with all the players. But he is… OK, he’s the captain, so you always have more communication with him

Koeman

It will be recalled that Messi tried to move out of Barcelona after a humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League last season, but he was blocked by the Josep Bartomeu (former FC Barcelona President) led board.

The Dutch tactician noted that it was a difficult time for Messi, but believes the Argentine has gotten over it.

It was a difficult time because he’s still the best player, but he was angry about some situations in the club. And he was not happy that he was in a team who lost 8-2 against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of the Champions League. Of course, he was angry, he had to leave, he wanted to leave the team.

First of all, what I said to the club was, ‘OK, it’s not my problem. It’s a problem between the club and Leo Messi. And you have to resolve that’. Finally, the club said, ‘We don’t make a transfer for him. He needs to stay’. It was a difficult time for Leo but he finally accepted it.

I spoke to him in his house before we started the season and I made plans with him and he was really enthusiastic. I knew that he had some problems with the club and I was out of that.

I said to Leo, ‘I’m really happy if you stay. If you don’t stay, it’s your decision and it’s what you have to handle with the club. If you stay, you will be part of the team and this will be your position to get all the best out of yourself’. Little by little, he accepted that situation. And look how he is playing in the last few weeks, he is really involved in the club, in the team. But, nobody knows what will happen in the future

Koeman

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