Sports

I`ll stay at Barcelona for as long as they want me: Messi

An exit from Barcelona is not on Lionel Messi`s mind as he asserts that he`ll always be happy to play for the LaLiga giants, so long as they want him.The forward hasn`t signed a contract past the summer of 2018 yet and has been consistently linked with his old coach Pep Guardiola, in charge of Manchester City."I have always said that Barcelona has given me everything and I am here for as long as they want me to be," Messi told Coach."[The Premier League] is a very competitive league, last season showed that, so it makes it very difficult to predict. Of course Guardiola is a very successful coach, he will be adjusting to the league, but I am sure that he will be successful."With his efforts still very much focused on Barcelona, the Argentine discussed his early days in Catalunya and how he adapted to his new surroundings having moved as a teenager."It was difficult for me leaving my country, but I became good friends with Cesc Fabregas at La Masia and we are still good friends now," he added."I needed hormone injections when I was a child as I wasn`t growing fast enough and Barcelona agreed to pay for them. Although that wasn`t the reason we moved, as a family we did move to Spain when I was 13."It was the best decision we could have made, but as a young boy, leaving your home and your friends for the unknown... that was challenging."Back in the national team setup, Messi also touched on the reasons that brought him out of his short retirement spell with the Albiceleste."After the disappointment of losing the final I had time to think and to speak with people, and I felt it was the right option to reverse my decision," he noted."I still have big ambitions to win a trophy with Argentina."Source: Marca