Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, acknowledged that there was a formal meeting with Jorge Messi, father of the captain of the Argentine team.
At the meeting, they talked about the future tribute that the Catalan club wants to pay to Lionel, the current player for Paris Saint-Germain.
“We have seen each other with Messi’s father, yes. We talked about the situation, I congratulated him on Argentina’s victory and we talked about Barça’s tribute to Leo”, the president acknowledged in an act at the Círculo Ecuestre.
In addition, he recognized that the meeting only had that purpose: “Leo’s thing is not about money, we are talking about a tribute,” he explained.
When asked about a possible return of the “10” to the club, Laporta said: “I don’t want to talk about Messi or the question of a possible return, because he is playing for PSG.”
The president reiterated that he would have liked Messi to continue at Barça, but recalled that at that time the club’s financial situation was so bad that he had no choice but not to renew the Argentine, who went free to PSG.
“I wish I hadn’t had to make that decision, but I had to. The institution is above any player, even if it is the best in history. But I would have liked it to continue and I didn’t know how to do it. I chose the institution, ”he noted.
Meanwhile, Messi has four months left on his contract with PSG, and his future is a mystery.