Juan Laporta, Barcelona’s club president, confirmed on Monday that they will do everything possible to bring back Lionel Messi, their former star, this summer.
Messi is scheduled to leave Paris Saint-Germain in the summer when his contract expires, and Barcelona, who were crowned Spanish champions this weekend, hope to regain their historic top scorer.
Laporta indicated that he spoke with Messi to try to restore the relationship between them, which was damaged when he left the Camp Nou in 2021.
Messi wanted to stay in Barcelona at the time, but the club was unable to keep him due to its debts, which amounted to more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion).
“I spoke to Leo in some way to re-correct the situation that happened, in which I had to put the club ahead at the expense of everything, even the best player in the world,” Laporta said to TV3.
“The truth is that it was a very emotional conversation, very interesting. We have been sending messages to each other recently, I congratulated him on the World Cup,” he added.
Laporta said that, despite a huge financial offer from the Middle East — estimated at $400 million per season, Barcelona can compete for Messi’s signature.
“With all due respect to other offers, Barcelona is Barcelona, and it is his home, we can compete with everyone,” Laporta said. “History supports us, the feelings are very strong, and we have 400 million fans around the world as well.”
Barcelona needs to provide more than €200 million in savings or new income in order to be able to operate without restrictions under the rules of financial fair play in the Spanish league.
