Ronald Koeman Is Not Confident That Lionel Messi Will Stay At FC Barcelona

Ronald Koeman is not confident that Lionel Messi will stay at FC Barcelona beyond June 30.

The Argentine’s contract expires then, and in an interview with Newcastle legend Alan Shearer published by The Athletic on Tuesday, the Dutchman was honest about whether he thinks the Argentine will sign an extension.

“I’m not confident about that,” Koeman said. “I’m hopeful, yes, about this because he’s still a great player and he’s still winning matches for us, for the team. I’m enjoying being his coach, if you look at his qualities every day in the training sessions, it’s incredible. Of course, he came as a young kid to Barcelona. And I still don’t see Leo Messi in another shirt other than the Barça shirt.”

Koeman also explained how it was to arrive in the Camp Nou hotseat, in his dream job, with the 33-year-old hellbent on leaving following a run of poor results and a falling out with the now-resigned president Josep Bartomeu.

“It was a difficult time because he’s still the best player, but he was angry about some situations in the club,” Koeman said. “And he was not happy that he was in a team who lost 8-2 against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of the Champions League. Of course, he was angry, he had to leave, he wanted to leave the team.

“First of all, what I said to the club was, ‘OK, it’s not my problem. It’s a problem between the club and Leo Messi. And you have to resolve that’. Finally, the club said, ‘We don’t make a transfer for him. He needs to stay’. It was a difficult time for Leo but he finally accepted it.

“I spoke to him in his house before we started the season and I made plans with him and he was really enthusiastic,” Koeman went on. “I knew that he had some problems with the club and I was out of that. I said to Leo, ‘I’m really happy if you stay. If you don’t stay, it’s your decision and it’s what you have to handle with the club. If you stay, you will be part of the team and this will be your position to get all the best out of yourself’. Little by little, he accepted that situation. And look how he is playing in the last few weeks, he is really involved in the club, in the team. But, nobody knows what will happen in the future.”

With Barça currently on a run of 10 matches unbeaten in La Liga and Messi appearing to enjoy his soccer again thanks to the emergence of young talents such as Pedri, Koeman was keen to stress that he has a “firm bond” with the six-time Ballon d’Or winner. “I don’t have any problems with Leo,” he said.

“He is the captain of the team, I speak to Leo about tactical things and we have a really good professional relationship that I have with all the players. But he is… OK, he’s the captain, so you always have more communication with him,” it was concluded on this topic.