Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has urged president Joan Laporta to bring about a sensational return for club legend Lionel Messi next summer, according to reports in Spain.
The previous summer Messi had been expected to extend his deal with Barcelona following initial talks between all parties that had looked positive then but LaLiga’s financial regulations eventually made it impossible for the deal to happen. This then resulted in the Argentina international severing his 20-year association with the Catalan giants by signing a two-year contract with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, who were only too eager to welcome the superstar, in August.
Messi tearfully admitted in May he did not want to leave the ‘complete happiness’ of playing at Camp Nou, and a report from SPORT is now suggesting that the Argentine’s former team-mate Xavi has told Joan Laporta to secure his return.
Former Barcelona and Spain midfielder Xavi has never stopped maintaining a personal excellent relationship with the Argentine star, the report adds, and he is reportedly convinced Messi’s return could only greatly benefit the club both on and off the pitch.
The report optimistically suggests a return would be the final transfer of Messi’s career, with the ideal ultimately being that he would hang up his boots at the club, which would bring a premature end to David Beckham’s MLS dreams of him ending his twilight football playing years in America.
However, Sportsmail understands PSG has already indicated their intentions for him to sign a one-year contract extension, despite his underwhelming first season in France having scored only 6 Ligue 1 goals. Understandably it should come as no surprise PSG would be only too glad to have Messi stick around, since he has earned them £600million in revenue in his first year, and helped the club to sign 10 sponsorship agreements.
However, being in no rush, Messi has not committed one way or the other for now as his focus seems to be set on seeing how the upcoming season goes, besides his over-riding desire to win the World Cup this winter in Qatar with Argentina.
But the report comes just a day after Laporta claimed Messi could indeed make a return to Barcelona before he retires.
‘I don’t believe Messi’s chapter at Barcelona is over,’ Laporta told ESPN.
‘And I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that chapter is still open, that it hasn’t closed.
‘To have a moment to do it how it should have been done so that he may have a much more splendid ending than what he had.
‘If I feel like I owe him one? Yes.
‘Morally, as the president of Barcelona, I think I did what needed to be done. But also as Barcelona’s president, and personally, I believe I owe him one.’