Xavi says Barcelona president blocked Messi’s return in 2023 | OneFootball

Former Barcelona player and idol Xavi Hernández stated in an interview with the newspaper La Vanguardia that the president of the Catalan club, Joan Laporta, vetoed the return of Argentine star Lionel Messi in 2023 to avoid a power struggle.

Messi left Barça to sign with Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 and, two years later, transferred to Inter Miami, his current team.

“Leo was signed. In January 2023, after becoming world champion (with the Argentina national team, a month earlier), I got in touch and he told me he was excited to come back. And I saw that. We talked until March and I told him: ‘When you give me the OK, I’ll tell the president,’” Xavi explained to La Vanguardia on Sunday (8).

“A ‘last dance’, like Michael Jordan’s… The president started negotiating the contract with Leo’s father and we had the green light from LaLiga, but it was the president who backed out,” he continued.

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Xavi, who was Messi’s teammate for over a decade at Barcelona, pointed to Laporta as the person responsible for the Argentine not returning to the club.

“Laporta told me, word for word, that Leo would declare war on him if he came back and that he couldn’t allow that. And suddenly, Leo stopped answering my calls,” he said.

Laporta, who resigned from the presidency in February to run for re-election on March 15, suggested this Monday (9) that Xavi was resentful for having been dismissed in May 2024 from his position as coach and stated that Messi’s father and agent, Jorge, told him that the player had decided not to return to Barcelona.

“With Xavi I saw that we were going to lose, and with [current coach Hansi] Flick we are going to win,” summarized Laporta in a presidential debate against the other candidate, Víctor Font.

“I understand that he [Xavi] is hurt: with the same players, Flick wins,” Laporta added.

The director explained that he sent a contract to Jorge Messi, who then went to his house and told him that “there would be too much pressure” if the Argentine star returned.

Lionel Messi is the top scorer in Barcelona’s history, with 672 goals, and the player with the most titles (34) wearing the ‘blaugrana’ shirt.

Laporta also stated that Barça turned down in 2024 a €250 million offer (R$ 1.5 billion at the current exchange rate) from PSG for forward Lamine Yamal.

*With content from AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.