Barcelona President Joan Laporta has broken his silence on how the club’s loan move for Lionel Messi failed.
Recall Barcelona plotted a January short-term loan move for Lionel Messi to bring back the club’s legend to Camp Nou.
The decision followed Inter Miami’s failure to make it to 2023 MLS Playoffs. Messi will be left with few matches before MLS resumed for next 2024 season after the Herons failed to nail the Playoffs spot.
Joan Laporta hoped to leverage on the short relapse to have the Argentina World Cup legend back to Catalonia at least to bid the club a proper farewell after his tearful exit in 2021.
Unfortunately, the move was dead on arrival as Lionel Messi refused the deal and choose to stick to Inter Miami despite the playoff deadlock.
In a quote shared by Fabrizio Romano, Joan Laporta revealed Barcelona actually pushed for the short-term loan move but Lionel Messi turned it down.
“Messi on loan? We offered Messi to return at the beginning of the season… no talks took place now”.
“Leo told us his decision and so we respected him,” Laporta said.
Lionel Messi has a contract with Inter Miami till 2025. Messi will not renew his deal with Inter Miami when it expires. He is hoping to head homewards to his boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys before calling time on his career.
