Moving to Paris Saint-Germain hasn’t been a smooth transition for Lionel Messi, who has confirmed he will move back to Barcelona to return to the life he, his wife and three children “loved”
Lionel Messi says he will move back to Barcelona once his spell at Paris Saint-Germain comes to an end.
Messi has struggled to settle into his new surroundings in the French capital and has admitted he “misses everything” about his old life in Spain where he spent more than two decades.
The Argentine international said he will move back to the Catalan capital after Paris with his three children, in a move which both he and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo desire.
He has described his time living in a hotel in Paris as “bad” and although the family have now moved into a rented property, he is missing the daily routine which he became used to.
In an interview with Catalan daily Sport which is bound to set alarm bells ringing at his new club, the 34-year-old said: “I don’t know when my contract with PSG will end.
“But what is also confirmed, and certain, is that we are going to live in Barcelona and our life will be there.
“It’s what my wife wants and I want.”
Flagging up his wish for a future role at the struggling Catalan side and saying he would “love” to be its technical director, he admitted when asked what he missed about living in Barcelona and being at his old club: “Everything!
“It was a lot of time in the same place, the routine, the daily way of life, going into a changing room I knew like the back of my hand.
“Moving to Paris was a complete change. It meant arriving somewhere that was totally new, both the city and the club.
“I loved the life I had in Barcelona, the club and it’s something I miss although it doesn’t mean things are not good here.”
Portraying his first weeks with PSG as a nightmare of “unbearable” traffic jams and three children who were fed up of hotel life after the initial novelty wore off, he added in his bare-all interview with Sport: “We were spoilt where we were before.
His happiness during his time with the Catalan gaints has been wiped away since leaving them
“Everything was easy and nearby. I would take the children to school and go back home, then head to training, return home for something to eat and go and pick the kids up.
“Today I don’t have time to take the children to school and pick them up and go to training.”
Messi was subbed at half-time on Friday in PSG’s match against French champions Lille after failing to make much of an impact as his side went a goal down.
He had been struggling with a muscle injury earlier in the week but had been declared fit to play. PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino insisted he had been withdrawn as a “precaution.”
Although he has scored three times in the Champions League for his new club, Messi has yet to score a league goal for PSG since his free transfer in the summer and has faced criticism from the French media.
The six-times Ballon d’Or winner revealed he still speaks all the time to “great friend” Sergio Aguero, substituted on Saturday in Barcelona’s match against Alaves and taken to hospital for tests after suffering chest pain and dizziness.
He told Sport he also speaks regularly to former teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
Elsewhere in the interview he admitted he hadn’t spoken to Barcelona president Joan Laporta since he left the Nou Camp.
Responding to Laporta’s claim last month he had hoped Messi would stay and play for nothing to ease the Catalan club’s financial woes and be able to keep their star player, he said: “I was never asked to play for free.
“I was asked to reduce my salary 50 per cent and I did it without any problem.
“We wanted to help the club more. My family and I wanted to stay in Barcelona. I think what the president said was out of place. His words hurt me.”
Source:Operanewsapp.com
