Lionel Messi and his future: lies and truths about a possible return to Barcelona

Returned to Europe after receiving caresses in bulk on his return to Argentina, Lionel Messi returned to center stage -in fact, he never leaves- for the words of Raphael Yuste, one of Barcelona’s many vice presidents, who acknowledged the recent contacts with the entourage of the captain of the world champion team. To the words of the leader were added by touch the sayings of Xavi HernándezDT of the Catalan club, who released hours later at a press conference that he is thrilled that La Pulce has in Catalonia “A Last dance like Jordan”. That declarative cocktail was enough for everyone to start talking about a probable return of the prodigal son. However, nothing is as simple as it seems. And, three months after his contract with PSG expired, The future of the best player in history remains a huge question mark.

Why? Why everything What he has extolled in the last few hours for now does not alter Messi’s and his team’s plans at all. It is that beyond the excessive coldness with which they have treated him in recent times in Paris, especially after the elimination with Bayern Munich in the round of 16 Champions League, Leo and Jorge, his father and representative, have yet to meet again with the Paris Saint-Germain authorities. You owe a meeting. AND the French club continues to have priority to renew his contract.

In that conclave, which will sooner or later take place, various aspects will be discussed. from the side of Nasser Al Khelaifi and the club will have to come up with an economic proposal, but above all they will have to put a sports project on the negotiating table that will seduce the Argentine. Messi wants to be competitive again in Europe. Messi wants to win the Champions League againthe one he has won four times but hasn’t reached since 2015.

These two conditions must be aligned for Leo to decide to continue using PSG’s 30. Especially taking into account that the club from the French capital not only has to adjust the numbers of its stratospheric budget, but that it would have the intention of building the team around a single franchise player. And that franchise player would be Kylian Mbappé.

All this information Messi must receive in order to decide whether or not to continue around the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysees. And until that happens, the fireworks that ring and dazzle from Barcelona will just be fireworks.

However, Is there a possibility that Messi will return to Barcelona? What seemed like a utopia a few weeks ago is no longer so. However, for the moment it is only an option that could start to take shape if Leo decides to leave Paris and pack his bags on June 30th.

The meeting between Jorge Messi and Joan Laporta existed and opened a door that seemed decidedly closed. Yes, during that meeting that lasted just over half an hour there was no talk of Leo’s immediate future or a possible return. Yes, there was talk of the tribute party left in debt and other satellite issues. There had been an occasional fling afterward, as he was able to find out clarion. This allows us to imagine that the lines remain open.

However, an eventual return is not as simple as putting two and two together. While it’s true that Leo often talks to Xavi Hernández – they’ve been friends since they were teammates – and both would like to get back together, there are four aspects that should be addressed in order to imagine Messi again at Barcelona. And they don’t seem easy to fix.

The first obstacle goes through Barcelona’s financial problems. They are real. And complex. For next season, the wage bill of the professional team is to fall by 200 million euros. Today it is at 600 million and, with all the cuts that have been and will be made, it could reach 450 million for next season. This means that it must continue to shrink and this necessity goes against the meaning of Messi’s eventual return. Even playing for free -as Laporta unusually scolded him when he threw him out the back door two years ago-, the 10 could not be signed.

A second obstacle is the legal problems that the Catalan club has on the ropes. UEFA has decided to investigate him for “potential violation of its legal framework” for payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Referee Committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. The Court of Instruction n. 1 of Barcelona, ​​​​​​that on March 15 admitted to dealing with the prosecution’s complaint against the Barcelona entity for the millionaire payments to Enríquez Negreira which could constitute various crimes of corruption.

Third, and no less, is the relationship with Joan Laporta. Beyond that meeting with Jorge Messi, the club president should make a sort of public apology for the misfortune he had with Leo when he threw all the negotiations overboard two years ago and forced him to leave Barcelona (the club and the city). when he believed the relationship would be for life.

Finally, there is a fourth element. Many believe that all this operational fuss has more to do Barça’s need to camouflage all judicial and financial problems who persecute him rather than in a real interest in repatriating his emblematic player. All the more so from the popular clamor that was heard over the weekend when the Camp Nou shouted for Messi in the final of the Kings League, the 7-a-side football tournament organized by Piqué and which attracted more than 90,000 people.

Therefore, beyond the clamor, there is little news to tell. There is nothing left but to wait. We’ll have to see how the Parc des Princes will welcome you this Sunday, from 3.45pm, against Olympique de Lyon Nicholas Tagliafico. Perhaps, after so many blue and white caresses, a curtain of boos (unjustified from whichever side you look at it) will make you rethink the scenario of your future.