It’s no secret. FC Barcelona wants to sign Leo Messi. The same sentimental, sporting and economic reasons that recommended renewing the Argentine star two years ago reappear today with force to justify his return. The player, who will turn 36 in June, is nevertheless waiting for a firm proposal to decide what to do next season. The rumors that go in that direction reach him, he knows that in the 10th minute of the games the Camp Nou stands are dedicated to chanting his name and he speaks with Xavi Hernández, his most reliable link with the Blaugrana club, practically daily to listen from the voice of his friend and now a coach how it would fit into his project. But offer on the table, at the moment, does not have.
What Messi does have through his father, Jorge, his representative, are the proposals from PSG, which still aspires to renew him after completing his two-year contract, and from Al Hilal, a Saudi club that is willing to pay him 400 million. euros for a single year of work. A madness aimed, among other things, at rescuing the rivalry of the Argentine forward with Cristiano Ronaldo, enrolled for a few months in Al Nassr, also Saudi, in exchange for 200 million in his case.
A few months ago it was taken for granted that the most likely option was to continue in Paris, a city to which Messi and his family found it difficult to adapt during the first season. Entered almost in the month of May, that the player has not renewed must be understood as a sign of more than reasonable doubt about his continuity in the capital of France. PSG’s first offer did not convince the Messi and neither did the lack of a script for next season: at the moment it is not yet known who will replace Christophe Galtier, the current coach, who will win the French league, but has failed at exactly the same point as its predecessors: the Champions League. The whistles that a sector of the stands in the Parque de los PrÃncipes have dedicated to ten do not help to weld the link between the player and his current club, which has never gone beyond a merely commercial entente.
Leo Messi, who has spent a few days with his family in Castelldefels, his home in capital letters, taking advantage of a break granted to the PSG squad, has not received any more offers. No club in the US, despite the insistence of some media, has addressed the footballer through the appropriate route, and that there are several Premier League clubs waiting for events to act is as certain as that none has taken the appropriate step.
FC Barcelona is right now at the same negotiating height as the English clubs, but it has the emotional factor in its favor. Messi is really considering the possibility of returning to the club of his life, where he became what he is, probably the best footballer of all time, but he needs to know in detail what conditions he would come with. Beyond the economic ones there are also the convivial ones. The relationship between the crack and the president Joan Laporta and his board of directors was greatly affected two summers ago. Messi did not understand the sudden change of events when he already had the pen on his lapel to continue at Barça in a contract agreed by both parties. He is therefore a more distrustful type today. How the reconciliation would be reported publicly is a topic that can be part of the conversations. At the moment, there has been a face-to-face meeting between Joan Laporta and Jorge Messi. It was in February. Half an hour. There was talk above all of a tribute. Relations softened.
The Blaugrana club has taken advantage of these months to draw up a plan to bring the player back. This includes several derivatives. Among others, the financial one to involve sponsors in the operation, the administrative one to present a viability plan that can be approved by LaLiga and the diplomatic one to ensure that UEFA does not leave Barça out of the Champions League next season as punishment for the Negrera case. In this sense, Joan Laporta met last week with Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, to smooth things over. When will Barça then present its definitive offer to Leo Messi? The idea is to do it when Xavi’s Barça and the Argentine’s PSG confirm their respective alirones, without vitiating the atmosphere between two clubs that have always looked askance at each other until then.
Regarding Messi’s role in Xavi Hernández’s team, one thing must be highlighted: the Argentine could manage his minutes depending on which game, but he would be the usual star. He has just won the World Cup with Argentina and has signed unattainable numbers this season in club and national team matches: 36 goals and 24 assists. He has participated in 60 goals.
