Pique comment on Messi Barcelona transfer saga: ' I asked Leo to wait until Bartomeu leaves the club before making his final decision'

Messi handed in a transfer request at Barca in the summer. however Catalans, however, refused to let him go.

Pique asked Leo to wait until Bartomeu leaves the club before making his final decision on quitting Camp Nou.

"I asked Leo to hold on," Gerard Pique said in an interview with La Vanguardia.

"I didn't have a lot of contact with him during those days. It was a personal thing. I remember sending him a message saying 'It's a year. Then new people will come...'

"How is it possible that the best player in history gets up one day and sends a burofax because he feels they are not listening to him? It is too shocking

"The Camp Nou should bear his name and then that of the sponsor."

Lionel Messi handed in a transfer request at Barcelona in August. The club, like it or not, refused to let the Argentine leave. The 33-year-old will stay at Camp Nou for at least another year as he's out of contract next summer.

As for the 'new people will come' remark, the current Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu could be on his way out of the club by the end of the month. If the vote of no confidence against Bartomeu fails, he's unlikely to survive next year's presidential election anyway.