Messi rules out move to France

Lionel Messi has made it clear that he is not interested in joining Paris Saint-Germain and says he is happy with life at Barcelona.

The Argentina international stated on Monday that he dreams of staying at the La Liga club until the end of his career, and not even a lucrative offer from the Ligue 1 giants would tempt him to move on.

“Paris Saint-Germain’s project tempting? No, no! I have the best team-mates in the world at Barcelona. We fight for trophies every season,” Messi was quoted as saying by France Football.

“Barcelona is a beautiful city and Barca are the club where I was raised. I can honestly not even imagine leaving Barcelona.”

PSG lured players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Gregory van der Wiel to the French capital in the summer transfer window, but Messi is unsure whether they can compete with the big teams in Europe this term.

“I don’t know whether PSG already have the means to challenge the big teams in the Champions League this season,” he said.

“I think that they can win the Ligue 1 title with all the players who can be decisive. But it takes time to build a team.

“Their situation reminds me a bit of Manchester City. It’s not easy to build a team when you have players coming from all corners of the world.”

PSG currently sit atop of the Ligue 1 table and second in their Champions League group.