Messi to remain with Barcelona

Barcelona's all-time leading goalscorer Lionel Messi says he is staying with the club.

He says it is impossible for any team to pay his release clause and he does not want to face the club he loves in court.

The 33-year-old sent a fax to Barca last week saying he wanted to exercise a clause in his contract which he said allowed him to leave for free.

But the club said his 700m euro release clause would have to be met.

Messi, whose contract expires next summer, says the fact he did not tell Barca he wanted to leave before 10 June was crucial, and had he done so, his release clause would not have had to be met.

Messi's father Jorge had held talks in Barcelona this week and insisted his son could leave for free, only for La Liga to back Barca's stance over the release clause.

Manchester City were among the clubs linked with Messi when he made clear he wanted to end his 20-year stay at the Nou Camp, nine days after an 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.

That result meant Barca ended the season with no silverware, and they replaced manager Quique Setien with former Everton and Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman.

[Source: BBC Sport]