Laporta on Messi's Barcelona return: "We'll see"

Karan Tejwani

• 22 Dec 2022 15:20 GMT
• 3 min read

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has spoken about the possibility of Lionel Messi’s return to the club in the future as his contract at Paris Saint-Germain runs down.

Messi is in the final months of his contract at the French champions and there it seems as though he is likely to renew in the coming weeks.

His future was up for debate for months, and he made it clear he would decide after the World Cup in Qatar was complete, which ended successfully for Messi and Argentina.

READ: Iniesta calls for Barcelona to sign Messi

Now, Laporta has spoken about Messi’s future and the possibility of Barcelona being able to afford bringing him back to the Camp Nou.

Laporta discusses Messi return

Laporta said to the club’s official media channels: “For us, he is the best player of all time, we have had him here and I am convinced that in his heart he is a Culé and will always be linked to Barça.

“Whether or not he comes back as a player, at the moment he is at PSG and we would very much like him to come back one day, but we’ll see.”

READ: Lionel Messi agrees to stay at PSG

Laporta then discussed the club’s financial situation, providing an indication over whether a move for Messi was possible next summer

He said: “The economic situation was very delicate and now there is cash stability, debt control, and positive equity. And we have repositioned the sporting wage bill. We are in the process but we are on the right track and this has been helped by the famous levers.”

Barcelona have been one of the interested clubs in signing Messi upon the expiry of his contract, with Inter Miami of Major League Soccer being the other.

According to reports, though, PSG are the only club with a concrete offer on the table and negotiations are moving positively in a bid to get Messi to stay in the French capital.