(Barcelona) For three weeks, FC Barcelona dreamed aloud of the return of Lionel Messi before the Argentine legend chose Inter Miami. But the Catalan club, their hands tied by financial constraints, had no way of repatriating the prodigal son anyway.
“I heard that La Liga had accepted everything and that everything was in order for me to come back, but there were still a lot of things missing” for that to happen, Messi explained in an interview with Spanish sports daily Sport and Mundo Deportivo, announcing his departure for the North American Championship (MLS).
Starting with the absence, at this stage, of a financial green light on his return. “I heard that they (Barcelona leaders, editor’s note) had to sell players or lower player salaries and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that,” insisted “La Pulga”.
The ultimate goal of the world champion was to return to the fold and find his training club, but this hope was very quickly shattered on the economic reality of a club in the grip of great difficulties.
Financially fragile, Barça must reduce its payroll by around 200 million euros to respect the financial fair play established by the Spanish League. And even though La Liga has approved its “viability plan”, the club must continue to respect the 40% rule: out of 100 million saved, only 40 can be spent on player purchases.
Messi’s return therefore implied a big sacrifice for a team that learned to live without its N.10 by being crowned champion of Spain this season, the first national title since 2019.
Barça wants to extend players like Gavi, Ronald Araujo or Marcos Alonso, while keeping financial margins to bring in other players. What makes the Messi operation complex.
The Argentine star also claimed to have received no “formal” proposal from Barça: “there was nothing in writing” or “signed”, and “we did not know if it was going to be able to happen or not,” he insisted.
Remarks contradict the assertions of club president Joan Laporta who had been talking for weeks about a possible return of the star striker, whose name has been chanted in recent weeks at Camp Nou in the 10th minute of each match.
“We will do everything possible” to bring Messi back to Barca, Joan Laporta said in mid-May, amid rumors of a move to Saudi Arabia, where he was offered a golden bridge. “With all due respect” to this country, “Barca is Barca, and this is its home,” he said.
“Everyone was enthusiastic, first him, then me and then the club” about his possible return, Barça coach Xavi also said Thursday during an interview on the Twitch platform. “But the circumstances did not arise,” he added, calling for “respect” for the player.
This failure to bring back Messi has enough to fuel the bitterness of the supporters who, for many, had begun to dream of seeing him end his career in his favorite club.
“The club harbored hopes of his return and that generated unnecessary disappointments,” Sport daily director Johan Vehils said in his column on Thursday.
Several newspapers highlighted on Thursday the absence of guarantees from FC Barcelona. Messi “did not wait, because all the conditions were not met for the worst episode of his life not to happen again”, estimated in a forum the director of Mundo Deportivo, Santi Nolla.
“If Leo had waited, maybe Barca would have got financial fair play, maybe they would have convinced Tebas (LaLiga president, editor’s note), maybe they would have sold Ansu Fati, Kessié or Ferran”, judged for his part Johan Vehils.
But “with a ‘maybe’ you cannot convince the best footballer in history,” he concluded.
