Although he tried to download a prudent message, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has opened the door for Lionel Messi’s eventual return to the club. The Catalan leader acknowledged that He spoke with the Argentine star to rebuild the relationship and asked for time to be able to carry out a negotiation that ends again with the idol in the club. “Barcelona is the house of Messi”, summarized Laporta.
With the Spanish League title already secured on Sunday, Laporta allowed himself to talk about the topic that most interests Barcelona fans: the eventual return of Lionel Messi for next season. With the decision to leave Paris Saint Germain almost made, a return to Barcelona seems the most viable option, both from a football perspective and from a family perspective.
“Barcelona is Messi’s home”, Laporta highlighted the Argentine’s feelings towards the club where he was trained since he was 13 years old and from which he left in 2021.yes he feels it”confirmed Laporta, aware that he is facing a unique opportunity to recover the football emblem of the club in this century. However, made it clear that he will seek to handle the negotiations very prudentlyto avoid a situation similar to that of 2021, when everything was on track for a renovation and, at the last moment, it ended with Messi packing his bags to go to Paris.
“I spoke with Leo at the time so that, in some way, we can redirect a situation that occurred”, acknowledged Laporta, one of those targeted by the Argentine’s entourage as responsible for his departure from Barcelona. “I had to put the institution above everything, even him, the best player in the world. It was a very affectionate and pleasant conversation,” recalled Laporta this Monday in the program els matins on TV, a few hours after the consecration of Barcelona as champion of Spain.
But beyond the possibility of repatriating Messi, Laporta tried to be very cautious about the negotiations, taking into account that Messi is playing the last stage of Ligue 1, with the chance to be champion next week. Furthermore, in that sense His father Jorge has already anticipated that no negotiations will be opened before completing the current season.
“Let no one doubt it: Messi loves Barcelona. He feels the club is his home, but we would be doing a disservice if we start talking about these issues because for now he belongs to PSG and you have to wait until the end of the season to then talk calmly”, said the leader, who still needs a wink from the Spanish League about the financial engineering operation that Barcelona presented to be able to start negotiations with the Argentine.
On the other hand, he was very confident in being able to compete in the face of the million-dollar offer that Messi would have received to play in soccer in Saudi Arabia. “With all due respect to Saudi Arabia, Barça is Barça and it is Leo’s home”, said the Catalan president, with the certainty that Messi still wants to compete at a high level and for this reason he would reject an eventual offer from Al Hilal. “Barcelona can compete with the whole world, history supports us. And Saudi Arabia is doing a very good job and they are investing and working very well, but Barça is Barça”, insisted the leader who opened the door for Messi’s return. Now it will be necessary to see if the star accepts the invitation and returns to the club where he reaped his greatest moments of glory.