‘Barca reached agreement with LaLiga for Messi but he chose Inter Miami’

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that the Spanish club 'did everything' they could but still failed to re-sign Lionel Messi this summer. 

World Cup winner Messi was heavily linked to a return to boyhood club Barcelona this summer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired at the end of the last season. 

The Argentine forward, 35, has spent the last two seasons at PSG, playing his final game for the club in June, after moving from Barcelona in 2021, where he spent the majority of his career.

"We did everything we could. It was very close. We had to manage our financial fair play situation so we needed time. At the end, we reached an agreement with LaLiga that authorised us to add him to the squad," Laporta said in an interview with  ESPN Deportes.

Barcelona had to let go of the best player in their history in 2021 due to financial problems. There were reports suggesting a Messi-Barca reunion this season, with reports of talks being held between the two parties, but delays from Barcelona's end due to the Financial Fair Play situation and concerns about registration ultimately led to Messi choosing the MLS.

"He decided to go to Inter Miami, we respect him. Because of the circumstances, he told us it was the best thing for him and also he can bring a lot to Inter Miami and to football in the United States," Laporta added. 

When Messi confirmed his move to Inter Miami in early June, the Argentine said that he did not want to have to wait for Barcelona to find a formula to be able to sign him given their financial situation -- they were unable to keep him before his move to PSG, leading to a tearful departure.

"I was afraid that it would happen again," Messi had said in an interview with Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo.

Messi made an instant impact in his new club, scoring the winner with a trademark freekick -- a left-footed curler to the top bin -- in the dying minutes of the stoppage time to mark his debut for Inter Miami in their 2-1 win over Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup. 

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner continued his superb form in his first full start for Inter Miami, scoring twice in their 4-0 victory over Atlanta United to fire his team into the knockout rounds of the Leagues Cup.

And Laporta said that 'Barca are happy if Messi is happy'.  

"We are happy if Messi is happy. With the arrival of Messi, [Sergio] Busquets, [Jordi] Alba, Luis Suarez and perhaps Andres Iniesta, he will have a team of enormous quality and who have achieved everything in world football," the Barca president insisted. 

When asked if there is a chance for Messi to return to Barça in the future, Laporta said: "Barça will always be his home and that is something that we will see when the time comes. It depends on a lot of things, on whether he wants to and if the circumstances are right.

'But Messi already knows that Barça will always be his home. That has always been the case with the great players that the club has had throughout its history."