Messi dismisses City talk

Barca star wants to stay put at Camp Nou

By Lucas Brown   Last updated: 5th March 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Messi dismisses City talk

Messi: Staying put

The rumours are pure fantasy.

Lionel Messi on Man City
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Lionel Messi rebuffed any talk of him joining Manchester City by stating that his main desire is to stay with Barcelona for the rest of his career.

The Argentina international insists he has no interest in leaving Barca and insists that all talk of a move away from Camp Nou, especially to Real Madrid, is completely false.

Talk of City 's interest was reported in England on Thursday, although these claims about the Eastlands outfit appear to be without any foundation at all.

In previous seasons Messi has expressed the gratitude that he has towards Barca for the treatment he received when he was young and he has reiterated his desire to stay in Catalunya.

Fantasy

"If it depended only on me then I will stay at Barcelona for the rest of my career and no other club will convince me otherwise," he said in an interview with Publico.

"The rumours are pure fantasy."

Talk of problems on the pitch at Barcelona has not affected Messi's ambitions and he has made winning the UEFA Champions League the priority this season.

"The Champions League is the most difficult and we are thinking more game-to-game," he said.

"But we will have to be able to beat anyone if we want to win it.

"But we can beat anyone with the players we have. With players like Xavi, Iniesta and Dani Alves all assisting, it is natural that we will score goals."

Friendlies

Meanwhile, Messi has confirmed that he is now free to play for Argentina in any fixtures where his services are required.

Barcelona successfully appealed to the Argentine authorities to rest him for recent internationals following his participation in last summer's Olympics.

But now Messi has confirmed that he is ready to return to the fold.

"Everything has been arranged and I am going to be in the games of the national team", he told Radio La Red.

Messi revealed a visit from coach Diego Maradona convinced Barca that he should be given the green light to play for his country again.

"When Diego came to talk with the people of Barcelona and the coach Joseph Guardiola, everything changed," he said.

"That's why I was able to play against France [last month] and I will surely also play in the games that are about to come."