Messi on his future: I want to retire at Barcelona Barcelona Has ended speculation

Lionel Messi conducted an interview with Sport in September which led to fears over his future at Barcelona, but the Argentine now seems more certain that he will be at the Camp Nou for the long-term.

More than anything, Messi is happy in Catalonia with his family and he does not want to disrupt that.

"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 that [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."

There has always been talk of Messi going back to Argentina to play for Newell's Old Boys, his childhood club, but he is aware that he needs to consider his family's priorities.

"I always dreamt of playing there," Messi noted.

"Experiencing Argentinian football, which is very different from anywhere else in the world, but you have to think more about your family than what you want [individually]."

This season, Messi has had to recover from two injuries and he accepts that he is not yet fully fit.

"I am not yet 100 percent," he added.

"Sevilla was my second full match [this season].

"The other day against Sevilla, I found myself tired at first.

"I'm going little by little."