Messi unaware of furore over comments

Lionel Messi was unaware of the storm caused by his remarks concerning his future at Barcelona ahead of the Ballon d’Or award ceremony.

The Argentinian appeared to hint that he may move from the Catalan giants in the near future, stating “I don’t know where I’ll be next year” – adding further fuel to recent speculation.

Messi came out recently to deny any problem between himself and head coach Luis Enrique, with rumours circulating that the pair have fallen out.

Following the Ballon d’Or ceremony, where Messi finished second behind Cristiano Ronaldo, the Barca man was surprised to hear his earlier comments had caused such a fuss.

“I’ve only just found out, so I can’t say too much about it because people will draw their own conclusions,” he told reporters.

“I’m not thinking of leaving or anything like that. I said that in football you never know what will happen in the future.

“Now at Barcelona we’ll be trying to reverse last season’s situation, when it was very hard for me both personally and professionally.”