Leonardo: I think that Leo Messi's idea was to stay at Barca

PSG sporting director Leonardo spoke to Canal Plus about various topics, including Lionel Messi’s arrival.

He confirmed that the Argentine forward wanted to stay in Catalonia.

“I can’t hide that we had contact before, but after January, when he had six months left on his contract. We never spoke to him before January 2021.”

After that, Leonardo realised that Messi would prefer to remain at Barca.

“I think his idea was to stay at Barca. Honestly, he was sure he didn’t want to go and he wanted to finish his career there.”

However things fell apart and PSG swooped.

“There ended the Messi story at Barcelona and ours began. Imagining a player like Messi with the PSG shirt is something enormous and very nice.”