'Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona' - Deco

Former Barcelona midfielder Deco believes Lionel Messi will leave the Camp Nou side in the future.

The Argentina international recently revealed that his future could lie away from Barcelona and Deco believes it's inevitable that the 27-year-old will leave the club.

"I know Messi will leave one day. That's to be expected. Everything comes to an end," Deco told Globo Esporte.

"I understand that all sorts of speculation arises when a great player speaks, but nobody is eternal in a team, and much less so in football. Great players and great managers come and go.

"Obviously with Messi's history at Barca, you can understand that it's hard to see him at another club, but one day it will happen. It could be this season, in a year's time or in five years. It will depend on lots of things.

"All I think is that players like Messi need to be happy to perform at their best. That's the big secret. If Messi is happy, he'll stay. If he's not, he'll look for better options. Messi needs to be happy, to be content."

The attacker has been in sublime form in recent weeks, netting hat-tricks against Sevilla and APOEL to become all-time top scorer of La Liga and the Champions League respectively.

He has a contract with Barcelona until the summer of 2018.

Credit: Stefan Coerts/Goal