Ronald Koeman makes stunning claim about Lionel Messi's future at Barcelona

Ronald Koeman has admitted that he is not confident about Lionel Messi staying at Barcelona beyond this season.

The manager hopes that the Argentine remains at the club and claims he cannot envision Messi wearing another club's jersey.

Lionel Messi wanted to leave Barcelona in the summer but was forced to stay for another season.

The former club president, Joseph Bartomeu made things difficult for the Argentine to leave and the legendary footballer claims that he did not want to take the club to court.

Barcelona have offered Messi a clause in his contract and that lets him make a decision on his future at the end of every season.

With the season now at the halfway stage, clubs are slowly putting plans together for the summer transfer window and next season.

However, Ronald Koeman cannot afford to think about those things right now as Lionel Messi's future at the club is still unclear. Talking to The Athletic, the Barcelona manager said:

“I’m not confident about that. I’m hopeful, yes, about this because he’s still a great player and he’s still winning matches for us, for the team. I’m enjoying being his coach, if you look at his qualities every day in the training sessions, it’s incredible. Of course, he came as a young kid to Barcelona. And I still don’t see Leo Messi in another shirt other than the Barca shirt.”

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Do Lionel Messi and Ronald Koeman have issues behind the scenes?

Despite all the talks of Lionel Messi not being happy at Barcelona, Ronald Koeman claims he has no issues with the forward.

The manager also went on to say that he discusses tactics with the Argentine and has a 'really good professional relationship'.

“I don’t have any problems with Leo. He is the captain of the team, I speak to Leo about tactical things and we have a really good professional relationship that I have with all the players. But he is… OK, he’s the captain, so you always have more communication with him.”

Lionel Messi's Barcelona are second in the league table right now but are still far behind the league leaders, Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone's side have a 10 point lead at the top and have a match in hand as well.