Lionel Messi has suggested that he has all but decided to end his playing career at Barcelona.
The 32-year-old has been with Barca since 2001, scoring 604 goals in 692 appearances for the Catalan giants since stepping into the first team in 2004.
Messi's current deal at Camp Nou will expire in the summer of 2021, though, and it was recently revealed that there is a clause in the attacker's contract which allows him to decide at the end of each season whether he wants to leave.
The Argentine was allegedly keen to end his playing career in his home country, but the forward has revealed that his love for Barca in addition to his family's happiness could see him retire in Spain.
"I am becoming more and more clear that I want to retire here," Messi told RAC1. "Especially for how I feel about the club. Then, as a family, how happy we are here.
"For not changing my children's friendships, I don't want to break those. I had to live through [moving to Barcelona from Argentina at a young age] and I don't want them to go through the same thing. We believe that we can stay here for the rest of our lives, to continue living here once I've retired."
Messi has only scored once in five appearances for Barca this season, having struggled with injury in the early stages of the campaign.
Matt Law
