Javier Tebas, La Liga President, reveals the conditions that can bring Lionel Messi back to Barcelona in the summer transfer window.
Barcelona have exceeded their salary cap and they must cut players’ wages before any new player is signed or any contract can be renewed.
Barcelona’s financial restrictions will hinder them, however, that have not stopped them from chasing a massive reunion with Lionel Messi.
Futballnews understand that Barcelona are closing in on an agreement to bring back Messi to Camp Nou and the club is working to make it happen.
Barca is understood to be working to make it happen financially with a number of sales on the cards purely to lower the wage budget enough to re-sign the Argentine.
Javier Tebas explained that any deals must be signed off completely before La Liga approves Lionel Messi’s return to his former club.
In an interview with RMC’s After Foot, he said: “As of today, I see it as complicated.”
“There is still time, but there will have to be departures of players and a decrease in the wage bill. There will have to be if they are to be able to register Messi.”
“And then there is a piece of information which we don’t know, the salary of Messi. There are still many variables to understand.”
“Barca is not like PSG, which has a gas and money tap to have a large salary mass. They have to reduce the salary mass to be able to sign up players. It’s like the subway, let them out so they can get in. People still have to get out of the subway.”
PSG on the other hand is trying to persuade the 35-year-old to renew his contract with them but Messi is yet to pen a new contract.
Barcelona are reportedly trying to see if they can offer Lionel Messi a secondary role behind the scenes, which they believe could help offset some of the cost of his contract.
Javier Tebas
Javier Tebas Medrano is a Spanish lawyer and he was born on 31 July 1962.
He is the president of Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, the association that is responsible for administering Spain’s two professional football leagues.
Javier was first elected in April 2013, then he was re-elected for a third term in December 2019.
He was a provincial delegate during his student years for the far-right party’s youth, Fuerza Nueva, a reminiscence of Franco’s regime nostalgics.
Tebas announced in January 2019 that he supports the far-right nationalist Vox party.
He is an ardent supporter of Real Madrid but he has claimed that his fanship does not affect his neutrality as president.
Lionel Messi
The Argentine who spent the majority of his career in Barcelona now plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team.
Messi has won a record seven Ballon d’Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes, and he is widely said to be one of the greatest players of all time.
Before leaving Barcelona in 2021 – where he spent majority of his professional career – he won a club-record 34 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles, and four UEFA Champions Leagues.
Messi is a prolific and creative playmaker and he currently holds the records of most goals in La Liga (474), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (eight), and most assists in La Liga (192) and the Copa América (17).
A return to Barcelona is unlikely but many Blaugrana fans fancy a return of one of their greatest player – if not the greatest.
The question still remains, will Lionel Messi return to Barcelona or will he stay back at PSG?
