Lionel Messi has finally broken his silence on his decision to leave Barcelona this summer to join French club Paris Saint-Germain.
The Argentine stunned football in August when it was announced that he would be leaving the Camp Nou, where he had spent the entirety of his professional career.
The 34-year-old subsequently joined PSG on a two-year contract, where he has formed an attacking trio with former Barca teammate Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
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It had been reported that Messi was intent on staying at the Catalan giants and was prepared to sign a new contract that had a 50 percent pay cut included.
The exit of Messi was particularly painful as Barca received no financial compensation for the player, who left as a free agent following the expiration of his contract.
The superstar has now given an interview to France Football on his decision to leave Barca to move to the French capital.
The interview will not be published in full until Saturday, but the magazine’s cover has ensured the leak of the major sentence that Messi gave in the talks.
The Argentina international has said: "I was not wrong to go to PSG."
Messi’s former Barca teammate Luis Suarez explained in a recent interview with Diario Sport that the Argentine had been intent on staying at the Camp Nou for the remainder of his career.
Suarez said: “He told me 'I will finish my career at Barcelona, which is what I always wanted, the club that has given me everything and the children are happy'.
“From one hour to the next everything changed.
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman recently said of the player: "Messi masked everything (at Barca).
"He was very good and he won everything. Of course, he had good players around him, but he made a difference. Thanks to him they all seemed better.
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"This is not a criticism, but an observation."
Messi scored his first goal for PSG in last week’s Champions League victory against Manchester City – a stunning solo effort that clinched the victory for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
While PSG suffered their first Ligue 1 defeat of the season on Sunday against Rennes, the situation at Barca has been much worse this campaign.
Barca have picked up just four points from their last four La Liga matches while their situation in the Champions League is significantly worse.
Koeman’s side suffered a three-goal home defeat against Bayern Munich – where they did not register a shot on target – before slumping to a loss by the same score line against Benfica in Lisbon.
Messi had netted a club record 672 goals during his career at Barcelona – more than the second highest, third highest and fourth highest scorers combined – while also making 778 first-team appearances, surpassing the previous record of Xavi Hernandez.
