Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, declared on Monday that the team would “do everything possible” to re-sign Lionel Messi during the off-season.
The attacker from Paris Saint-Germain is expected to leave when his contract expires in the summer, and Barcelona, the current La Liga champion, is aiming to entice its all-time leading scorer back despite intense interest from Saudi Arabia.
After a spectacular period at Barcelona, where he won four Champions League and ten La Liga titles and is still revered by the supporters there, Messi has had two underwhelming seasons in Paris.
In an effort to mend the friendship between them that was harmed when he left in 2021, Laporta claimed he has spoken with Messi.
Messi wanted to continue at Barcelona, but due to debt of more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion), the team could not afford to keep him.
Laporta admitted to regional public television station TV3 in Catalonia, “I have spoken to Leo to somehow redirect a situation that occurred, in which I had to put the club ahead of everything, even him, who is the best player in the world.”
“In actuality, it was a very loving and pleasant conversation, and we’ve been messaging each other lately — I congratulated him on the World Cup.”
After Barcelona defeated Espanyol 4-2 to capture La Liga early on Monday morning, Laporta declared on Twitch that “we will do everything possible” to sign Messi.
Speaking to TV3, he was more circumspect.
He is a player for Paris Saint-Germain, and we have already worked on improving the team overall, according to Laporta.
Because Leo plays for a team like Paris Saint-Germain, “I think it would do me a disservice to talk about these questions about Leo. We have to wait until the end of the season, until it is over, and then we can talk more calmly about this.”
According to insiders with direct knowledge of the talks, Messi’s relocation to Saudi Arabia for the upcoming campaign was a “done deal” last week, as reported by AFP.
Laporta asserted that Barcelona could compete for Messi’s services despite the alleged 400 million dollars in annual compensation on offer in the Middle East.
“With all due respect to Saudi Arabia, Barca is Barca, and it is his home,” continued Laporta.
We are capable of competing with anyone. History is on our side, the emotions are too strong, and we have 400 million supporters worldwide.
Barcelona needs to save more than 200 million euros or generate new revenue in order to be exempt from constraints under the financial fair play regulations of La Liga.
