'Nothing will be the same' without Lionel Messi at FC Barcelona: Gerard Pique

FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has said that "nothing will be the same" without Lionel Messi at the Catalan club.

The Argentina star will not return to the Camp Nou outfit because, the club stated, "financial and structural obstacles" set by La Liga are preventing them from tying him down to a new deal.

After 21 years with the Spanish giants, Messi's contract expired in June this year, and will now be in search for his new club.

"Nothing will be the same again. Neither the Camp Nou, nor the city of Barcelona, nor ourselves," Pique wrote in an emotional Instagram post.

"After more than 20 years at the club, you will stop wearing the Barca t-shirt. Reality, sometimes, is very hard. We met in 2000, we were 13 years old and a career ahead. What career! The mother who gave birth to us! If we had designed it at that time, it was impossible to do it better. A f*cking madness!"

"In my first season, after returning to FC Barcelona, we won the treble and you became the best player of all time. From Rosario to touch the sky in Rome. There began the legend. What came after is history. And what good is it happened!"

"Now you leave, but I know that one day you will come back. There are things to do pending. Pass it well, enjoy wherever you go and keep winning like only you know how to do. Here we are going to miss you. I love you Leo."

Messi had initially agreed to sign a five-year contract with the Catalan club, but they cannot afford to register him for the new season. "I don't want to generate false hope," president Joan Laporta said on Friday as per Goal.com.

"During the course of negotiations, we know that the player has had other offers. There was a time limit."

(ANI)