Messi: I´m staying at Barcelona

Barcelona star Lionel Messi insists he is going nowhere, labelling claims he has spoken to Chelsea and Manchester City as “all lies”.

The Argentine forward scored the third goal in Barca’s 3-1 La Liga victory over Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou on Sunday.

Post-game, Messi denied he had asked to leave the Catalan giants – and rubbished links to Premier League giants Chelsea and City.

“I haven’t asked for anything to stay here because I have never wanted to go anywhere else,” he told Barca TV programme El Marcador.

“I have also heard that I have spoken to Chelsea and [Manchester] City … but it’s all lies.”

Reports of a rift between Messi and Luis Enrique had spread, with suggestions the Argentina international had asked for the coach’s sacking.

Messi denied those claims and suggestions he was behind the departures of previous coaches or players.

“There have stories that I had bad relationships with [Pep] Guardiola, [Samuel] Eto’o, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and Bojan [Krkic] … that I have got rid of people. That is in no way true,” he said.

“I never asked for them to get rid of the coach or anyone else.

“I am tired of hearing things about me. They say that I run the club when I am just another player. I don’t make those decisions, nor have I asked to make them.”