Messi praises Valverde

CAIRO - 14 July 2017: Lionel Messi is happy to work with Barcelona new coach, Ernesto Valverde, Messi believes that Barcelona will fight for every title this year.

"I have a great desire to meet the new coach, to start work and to give maximum effort," Messi told reporters during his visit to Japan.

Messi added that “Valverde has already shown that he is a great coach.”
Valverde will be the coach number six to train Messi in Barcelona after Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, Tata Martino and Luis Enrique.

Asked about his ambition with Barcelona next season, Messi answered “Whenever we start the season, the goals are clear in Barcelona, we want to try to win everything we play in and hopefully we can do that this year.”

Messi visits Japan with his teammates Gerard Pique, Neymar da Silva and Arda Turan in the presentation of Barcelona new shirt sponsors, Rakuten.
Messi extended his contract with Barcelona to end in 2022.