Xavi: Laporta cancelled Lionel Messi’s Barcelona return at the last minute

Xavi says Lionel Messi was desperate to return to Barcelona after winning the 2022 World Cup, but club president Joan Laporta unexpectedly abandoned plans to re-sign the Argentina captain.

The former Barcelona manager said he remained in personal contact with Messi for four months and strongly supported bringing him back to the club after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.

“We were in contact for four months. Messi really wanted to return to Barcelona, and I was 100% in favour of it,” Xavi said during an appearance on the Brakar Gupta podcast on YouTube.

He added that Messi and Barcelona’s coaching staff had both been optimistic about the possibility of working together again.

“Messi himself had a lot of hope, and I and the entire coaching staff were waiting for it with great expectations,” Xavi said, according to Barcelona Universal.

However, Xavi claimed the situation changed when Laporta decided against completing the deal.

“But in the end, president Laporta decided that he did not want to sign Messi again. Suddenly, the president cancelled everything,” he said.

The former Barcelona and Spain midfielder described the change as unexpected and said it left him in a particularly difficult position after the conversations he had held with his former team-mate.

“That is true, and it was very strange. It was very difficult for me to tell Messi that the return would not happen,” Xavi said.

Messi’s departure from Barcelona in 2021 had already caused considerable pain among the club’s supporters. His possible return after Argentina’s World Cup triumph generated significant excitement, while Xavi’s claim that Messi himself was hopeful of coming back made the collapse of the move even more disappointing for the Barcelona fanbase.

The comments also highlight the complicated relationship between Messi and Laporta. In 2021, Barcelona’s efforts to keep the forward at the club ended despite earlier promises and assurances. The club later said financial restrictions and La Liga regulations prevented it from registering Messi’s new contract.

Xavi became one of Barcelona’s most iconic players and later took charge during a difficult period for the club. His tenure produced early success, including restoring the La Liga title to Barcelona, but his final season was marked by poor results, problems surrounding the departures of several key players and increasingly strained relations with the club’s leadership.

Messi’s career also took a different direction after leaving Barcelona. Although he had been unable to reproduce his club form consistently with Argentina during his Barcelona years, he went on to achieve major success with the national team after departing Catalonia.

He later joined Inter Miami, where he set new records in Major League Soccer and produced a record-breaking campaign at the latest World Cup at the age of 39.

Despite the hopes of Messi, Xavi and the coaching staff, the Argentina forward ultimately spent the later years of his career away from the club with which he had been associated throughout most of his professional life.