The interview had finished but Lionel Messi had a question of his own – about Manchester City. Why did they have so much money? What were they paying?
It was 2010 and his Argentine teammate Carlos Tevez had not long moved there. Many more who worked with Messi would end up at the Etihad: Pep Guardiola, Txixi Begiristain, Yaya Toure.
Several promising youngsters would also go there, recently Eric Garcia, the 19-year-old Barcelona-born Barça fan who captained the club’s under 18s but somehow has turned up at City, where he has already broken into the first team.
Messi said recently that he wanted to leave Barca. He has cried wolf before for club and country – how many times has he retired from international football? Or threatened to leave Barcelona – Manchester City is always touted as the most probable destination. What usually happens is that a new contract is negotiated and he earns even more money.
The 33-year-old is by far and away sport’s best paid performer earning €100 million (Dh434.8m) per year but, however warped it sounds, he can say with justification that’s he’s worth it. What would Barça have been without the man who has won more matches single handedly than anyone else?
Messi always stays and he will this season, but in truth, this time was different. Messi was adamant he was leaving and told the club so. He said he’d told them long ago but events this year have pushed him further towards the exit: a failing, ageing team, frequent changes of manager and sporting directors, of no clear project. Barca squandered the world-record fee received for Neymar, a player Messi didn’t want to see go.
They did buy another Brazilian, Philippe Coutinho, with some of the money. He and Messi failed to gel on and off the field. In Xavi and Iniesta, Barca had two of the best players in the world and let them leave for free – a more savvy club would have got money for them. Did Messi really expect Barca to repeat their mistakes and let the best player in the world leave for nothing?
More directly and not without reason, Messi felt that the club are briefing against him and blaming him. Telling Luis Suarez, his close mate and neighbour who grew up over to River Parana from Rosario, that he could go with little notice further added to the air of hostility.
After a week of headlines, Messi told Goal on Friday that he was staying. He sat in the home he loves, in the house his family loves by the sea south of Barcelona. That family are settled, their boys happy in the international school they attend where lessons are taught in English and rugby is played. They do not want to leave.
Messi would be giving up much if he left. He's still the star in the biggest football stadium in one of football's biggest leagues. He is adored in Barcelona and by cules globally. His president, Josep Bartomeu, is not. He is the easy pantomime villain here, but after some initial success he has overseen Barca's deterioration.
He pulled no punches with an attack on Bartomeu knowing it will resonate with fans who despise the man they feel has overseen this decline, abandoning the ideals of the famed Masia youth system, the ideals of Guardiola and Cruyff.
Of making grand plans to renovate Camp Nou which are displayed in the reception of the stadium and were supposed to start in 2017 – but which are just that – plans. Barca cannot afford it.
They boast of record revenues yet, behind the scenes cut and trimmed the wages of normal staff. Bartomeu told one rival chairman that his entire job was about generating enough money to pay Messi – and the Messis have never been shy to push for their worth.
A new president will come in (elections are set for March), a former club legend such as Xavi will become manager at some point. At least the fans have a vote.
Heroes such as Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique will likely feature in the club’s future, but it looks a mess right now. Nobody came out of the latest spat well, not Messi, or the club which managed to ignore it all on their official media channels and Coutinho returning to training as the headline story – only satisfying for those fans who merely want to consume news that their club wants them to hear. That is PR, not news.
Messi stays with reluctance, working under a president he does not like. Is this a solution that suits anyone? He should be back for Barca’s first game of the season against Villarreal later this month. Back to adding to 634 goals from 731 appearances, his 34 trophies in 15 years. Nobody comes close.
He may not last long, he may move in January or at the end of the season. His performances have scarcely diminished. He plays a little deeper and doesn’t run as much as he did. He doesn't need to. He’s still the best player in La Liga and probably the world.
And yet football fans can change their tune. Quickly. At the start of the 2017-18 season Camp Nou was awash with protest against Bartomeu, with flags and chants at every game. A rival potential president came forward … and stepped back after Barca won seven straight league games and the dissent vanished.
Barca didn’t lose a single match until the 37th of 38 games when the league had long been won. There were no ‘dimision’ chants when they won their eighth title in 11 years either, but it’s a complex, troubled club right now.
The club isn't a company. Its board are personally responsible for the club’s financial situation, with guarantees to the bank. Covid-19 has exacerbated their financial problems and getting Messi’s vast salary off their books, plus a transfer fee, could have helped, but does any president want to be known as the man who let the best player ever go?
For now, it’s better for Bartomeu that no fans will be in inside the stadium when football returns as Spain wrestles with Europe’s highest infection rate, for protests and shouts of ‘Go!’ would be loud and clear. But when they return and Messi will surely hear his name sung at every game in the giant cavity he’s lit up since 2005.
Catch him if you can, because nothing last forever and it nearly did not last beyond this week.
