Barcelona president Joan Laporta has told ESPN that Lionel Messi’s “chapter” at the club is “not over” and considers it his responsibility to ensure the forward has a “more beautiful ending” at the Camp Nou.
Messi ended his 21-year spell at Barca when the club could not afford to renew his contract last summer, with the forward subsequently joining Paris Saint-Germain, which he helped to the Ligue 1 title.
“Messi was everything,” Laporta said exclusively to ESPN.
“To Barca, he’s been possibly its greatest player, the most efficient. To me he’s only comparable to Johan Cruyff. But it had to happen one day. We had to make a decision as a consequence of what we inherited. The institution is in charge of players, coaches.
“I would hope that the Messi chapter isn’t over. I think it’s our responsibility to try to … find a moment to fix that chapter, which is still open and hasn’t closed, so it turns out like it should have, and that it has a more beautiful ending.”
Laporta has previously spoken of his desire to return Messi to Barca, where he won the Ballon d’Or on six occasions, as well as holding the club’s records for goals (672) and appearances (778.)
The Argentina forward has a year remaining on his contract at PSG, with the option of a further year.
“As president of Barca, I did what I had to do. But also as president of Barca, and on a personal level, I think I owe him,” he added
On Friday, Barcelona sold a further 15% of their domestic television rights to the global investment firm Sixth Street, with sources telling ESPN the deal is worth around €320 million.
The move will help fund a number of expensive transfer moves this summer, including the arrivals of Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Raphinha from Leeds United.
“At the moment, we have a positive net worth. In about a month, we have earned close to €650m,” Laporta said.
“We’ve had to move fast. The TV rights were sold, 25% of them, and that has added important revenue. The club is on path to being sound; financially the club is better with the money that’s come in, and we’ve been able to pay back €100m of the credit we had through Goldman Sachs.
“What’s more, it needs to be said, the club is back to being sound economically, but we have to work harder to increase our earnings, not from selling shares but not by profiting through them.”.