Ex-teammate: Lionel Messi felt isolated, missed Luis Suarez when he wanted to leave Barcelona

Lionel Messi's future with Barcelona is still up in the air. 

Last year, his desire to leave Camp Nou was made public, and now Andrea Orlandi, Messi's former teammate, provided some insight into the Argentinian's situation. 

Orlandi told Insider's Barnaby Lane that Messi felt isolated and missed his "best friend" Luis Suarez when he wanted to leave Barcelona last year. 

"You could see from his body language that when he was playing that he wasn't really convinced what [the team] were doing," Orlandi said. "The biggest thing that he missed was his best friend Luis Suarez walking into the dressing room, would you believe it or not. And then on the pitch, he didn't really have the company he deserved."

Messi requested to leave Barcelona in August following the club's 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. After Barca sold Suarez one month later, he publicly criticized the team on social media.

After the fallout, Barcelona lost four of its first 10 La Liga games. Orlandi added that once Messi "felt part of the group" again, things began to change for the better.

When Messi was back on track, Barcelona went undefeated in La Liga between December and April. However, the club has three losses and two draws in its last eight games and can now finish no higher than third in the La Liga standings. 

After a roller coaster of a season, Messi could still ask to be moved again in the coming months, but it's unclear if he will.