BARCELONA – A tearful Lionel Messi confirmed on Sunday he was leaving FC Barcelona after the club said it could no longer afford paying its Argentine talisman’s high wages without jeopardizing its future.
“I tried to behave with humility and respect and I hope that is what remains of me when I leave the club,” Messi told a news conference according to Reuters as hundreds of fans, many wearing his No. 10 jersey, massed outside Barca’s Camp Nou stadium to bid farewell to the player they called Messiah.
Messi did not say what his immediate plans were, but French newspaper L’Equipe reported on Friday that he was set to join Paris St Germain after its manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters that Messi was an “option.”
