Leo Messi's priority is to return to FC Barcelona. To begin to establish the bases of his possible return, yesterday morning Jorge Messi, the father and agent of the player, met with the president Joan Laporta at the house of the maximum Barcelona president as confirmed by the images captured by the journalist Toni Juanmartí . The meeting lasted barely half an hour and, when he left, Jorge Messi acknowledged that his son's wish is to wear the Barcelona shirt again. "Leo wants to return to Barça and I would love to," he said as he went to the offices of the Leo Messi Foundation, located just a minute's walk from Laporta's penthouse.
Messi's desire, especially after winning the World Cup in Qatar, is to continue playing competitive football like Europe until at least the Copa América in 2024, if not a little longer. This scenario is an important asset for the blaugrana interests to combat the offers that he has from Saudi Arabia and Inter Miami. The Argentine's desire to return to Barcelona also includes the sentimental value of wearing the shirt with which he won everything without forgetting the comfort that it would be for the family to return to their life in Castelldefels, where they maintain the family home they They have come frequently every time PSG gave its players days off. On Saturday the Parisian entity already officially announced that Messi will not renew with the French club.
A few days ago this newspaper already explained that at FC Barcelona they did not give up the signing of Messi. They assured that they trusted that a meeting would take place to bring their positions closer and that Messi would not decide until he spoke with them. The entity has plenty of reasons to try to close the return of Messi. At an institutional level, he would gain weight, and Laporta would cease to be the president who did without the best footballer in the world. On a commercial level, his return would help to better cope with the year on Montjuïc, the scene where Messi made his debut for Barça in an official match on October 16, 2004. Messi would also generate a series of income at the box office and in other concepts that are difficult to achieve without his presence as sponsorships.
For months the Argentine has known about the plan outlined by Barcelona to deal with his return. He knows that, due to the complicated economic situation that the club is going through, the economic proposal does not correspond at all to the status of the current The Best and world champion with Argentina.
He also knows that his registration in LaLiga depends on the employers' association chaired by Javier Tebas giving its approval to the feasibility plan that Barcelona presented at the end of April. This plan contemplates the reduction of 15 percent of ordinary expenses in two years (that is to say, saving about 150 million euros in the budget of the professional sections and in salaries of the club's staff) and reducing 120 million euros of salary mass this season, including footballer sales.
Precisely the OK of LaLiga was discussed in the meeting between Jorge Messi and Laporta. The Barcelona president asked Jorge Messi for patience, who wanted to know first-hand if LaLiga would give the plan the green light. Right now, Barcelona can have an idea of how far they can go in their offer since LaLiga has told them that today they will get the approval of the feasibility plan.
Despite the fact that they will give the green light, the employers insist that Barça continues with the financial fair play exceeded. If they fail to lighten the expected salary mass, it will be impossible for him to return to the 1-1 rule (for each salary that comes out, one equal can come in) and sign normally in the summer. So that they will only be able to invest in transfers 40 percent of the savings they generate.
To start activating the plan, the intention of the coach, Xavi Hernández, is to start communicating the casualties when the team returns from Japan after playing today (12:30 p.m. peninsular time) the friendly match against Vissel Kobe. Ansu Fati is one of the names that is on the exit ramp. There may be at least two more sales. For his part, coach Xavi Hernández was "expectant and excited" with the arrival of the Argentine. "I would love for him to return to Barça. He knows because we've talked. The ideal scenario would be to have him and a defensive pivot”, confessed the coach, who also explained that this week could be final.
Beyond Barcelona's interest, if sources close to the player have made something clear, it is that the only formal proposal they have on the table is that of Saudi Arabia, although in the last hours Inter Miami has also accelerated to sign the Argentine.
