Madrid (AFP)

"I haven't decided anything": Lionel Messi, who wanted to leave the Barcelona club this summer, said on Sunday that he had not yet decided on his future as the winter transfer window opens this weekend.

"I don't know yet. As of today I'm focused, I don't think about how the season is going to end," said the six-time Ballon d'Or in an interview lasting over an hour. on the Spanish TV channel Sexta.

The Pulga's contract (the chip in Spanish) expires on June 30, 2021, leaving it free to negotiate with other clubs on January 1 for a possible departure next summer.

Leaving nothing to filter on his future, Leo Messi was content to say that "the club [was going through] a difficult time".

"But I am enthusiastic," he said.

Barça has had a difficult start this season and is only fifth in La Liga, 8 points behind leaders Atlético Madrid, after 15 matches.

"The club is doing very badly, and it will be difficult to bring it back to the level it was at," he repeated.

"Barcelona is my life": If he admits having "learned everything" in the Catalan club with whom he has "a relationship of love", in August the 33-year-old player had wanted to leave the club that had him seen growing for 20 years.

Tired of a nightmare season, between disappointing sports results and repeated scandals, and the last straw of historic humiliation (8-2) against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Messi had said at the end of August that he wanted to leave FC Barcelona.

But constrained by his contract and by President Josep Maria Bartomeu, who has since resigned, he had to stay.

Coming back to this episode, Lionel Messi explains having "suffered a lot", and having "badly lived everything that happened this summer, how the season ended, the burofax and all".

This burofax, a registered letter having value of proof in justice by which he made known his desire to leave Barça, was a way of "saying that I wanted to go away for real", he explained .

"I felt it was time for a change," he continued, referring to a decision "extremely difficult because I do not believe there is a better city in the world to live".

He said he gave up leaving this summer because he wanted to avoid "going to trial with Barça", even if according to him, "many lawyers" told him he would have won.

"The president told me at that time that he did not want me to leave and let rumors run in the press to pass me off as the bad guy," he added.

Messi clarified that he would not vote in the election of the club president at the end of January (although he is allowed to do so as a socio) but estimated that it "will be difficult to bring players, because it is necessary money and there is not ".

Asked about the possibility of playing alongside Neymar (currently at PSG, a club that could discuss a possible transfer from the Argentinian), Messi was content to respond that "bringing Neymar would be very expensive" and assured furthermore, it was "impossible" for him to go and play for Real.

He also assured to have "good relations" with his teammate Antoine Griezmann, denying rumors of a disagreement between the two men: "I never did what was said".

© 2020 AFP