Barcelona boss Xavi admits he has spoken to Lionel Messi about a sensational return to the Nou Camp…with the Argentina World Cup winner expected to leave French champions PSG when his contract expires next month
Barcelona boss Xavi has admitted he is in talks with Lionel Messi over a possible sensational summer return to the Camp Nou.
The Argentina World Cup winner is expected to leave French champions PSG in the summer, when his contract expires at the end of June.
Messi, who turns 36 next month, was suspended by PSG earlier this month for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, where he acts as an ambassador for the country’s tourism board.
Manager Xavi has now admitted he is in contact with Messi over such a blockbuster move and is already hatching tactical plans including the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner after leading Barcelona back to the top of LaLiga this season .
“I told the president that Messi’s return makes sense,” Xavi told Catalan newspaper Sport. ‘No doubt about it, it fits perfectly with our system and idea. I have the tactical plan in mind with Leo.
Lionel Messi is expected to leave French champions PSG when his contract expires next month
Barcelona boss Xavi has admitted he is in talks with Messi about a return to the Nou Camp
‘It’s up to Leo. I think he has to decide, it’s up to him… I’m talking to Leo, yes.’
Messi, Inigo Martinez and Ilkay Gundogan form the holy trinity of free transfers that Barcelona want to build their summer around – a legend and two top internationals who will excite supporters and elevate the quality of the team that has just won the league.
It won’t be easy to pull it off and will largely depend on how much leeway they’ve been given by La Liga and how successful their attempts to sell players are.
The club has to pay 174 million pounds [€200m] short of moving with freedom in the transfer market, free from the shackles of La Liga’s 40 per cent rule that otherwise obliges them to spend just £35m [€40m] of every £100 million they bring in by increasing sales or cutting costs.
Cutting homegrown TV channel Barça TV will save them £12m a year and they announced this week that Ambilight TV will be their shirt sleeve sponsor for three years for £7m [€8m]£8.6 million [€10m] and £10.5 million [€12m].
The news comes in the same week that Jordi Alba has revealed he will be leaving at the end of this season to save Barcelona a significant chunk of the €36 million they would have had to pay him in gross income and retroactive salary of the pandemic. His severance pay has not been made public, but it will only be a fraction of that amount due if he had stayed.
They are crawling back to solvency step by step, but the fact that they are trying to sell bits of the Camp Nou pitch and seats before it is renovated is a reminder of the desperation to raise money everywhere.
There have been claims from media closely related to the club that the departure of Alba and Busquets combined with the departure of Gerard Pique last year is equivalent to £104 million [€120m] in savings, and that Messi’s arrival will bring in £200 million [€230m] in additional revenue – £130 million [€150m] of more sponsorship and £70 million [€80m] of matchday earnings.
Re-signing Messi would be the crowning achievement of President Joan Laporta if he pulls it off
The numbers are financial fantasies, but despite all the exaggerations, it is clear that with a very simple transfer market of selling for big money and only getting free transfers, the club is heading in the right direction.
Martinez has agreed to join the club, although he has a clause in his pre-contract that means he can move to another club if Barcelona cannot register him.
Gundogan is next on the list and like Martinez he would arrive on a free transfer, but he wants a three-year contract and the club and that will cost the club for the 32-year-old.
Messi will be President Joan Laporta’s crowning glory if he can live up to it. Messi has £348 [€400m] bid from Saudi Arabia but waiting for Barcelona. His friends Alba and Busquets will accompany him to Riyadh if Barça cannot find room in their budget for his salary – which La Liga will value at £21.7 [€25m]even if he agrees to be paid much less.