Messi to stay at Barcelona but not out of choice

After weeks of speculation and uncertainty, Lionel Messi is staying with Barcelona but not out of choice. The striker announced that he will stay back at the club because it is impossible for any club to pay his nearly £700m release clause and he did not want take Barcelona to court. Messi communicated to the Catalan giants in August that he wanted to exercise a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free but according to reports the club insisted that his release fee be met. A lot has been said about the Argentine footballer's future with Barcelona in the past many months and it reached a peak with him expressing his desire to leave after the Spanish club's 8-2 hammering by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.