Lionel Messi return to Barcelona ‘not realistic’, says Joan Laporta

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Lionel Messi’s return to the club is not realistic. Messi recently said he would love to come back to Barca as he didn’t get a perfect goodbye at the club due to Covid-19. 

The Argentine spent 17 years at the iconic club after he joined as an 18-year-old young boy and left as one of the greatest football players to have embraced the game.

Messi had a stellar career at Barcelona as he played 778 matches in which he scored a record number of 672 goals and provided an astonishing 305 assists. The star forward signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 after playing for Barcelona.

“His departure wasn’t as we wanted,” Laporta told Catalunya Radio when asked about a hypothetical Messi return. “But out of the utmost respect for Messi and everyone at the club, for me to feed speculation that is not realistic is not appropriate.”

“I didn’t know he was coming, but Camp Nou is his home,” Laporta added. “They told me what happened. It was a nice gesture. He had just finished dinner and felt like coming with some friends. It was a spontaneous act in the spirt of Barcelona.

“It’s only fair that Leo should have the most beautiful tribute in the world. When the stadium is finished, we’ll have a capacity of 105,000 fans, so we’d like that.”

Messi won 34 trophies with Barcelona, including 10 LaLiga titles and four Champions Leagues. He left Barcelona in 2021, and he is currently plying his trade for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.