Aguanta Leo: Messi’s father confident about player’s return to Barcelona

There is joy in the streets of Catalonia as Barcelona have been given the green light by La Liga for their financial feasibility plan. The club can now start making moves in the transfer market with the guarantee that if they follow the plan to a T, all their signings will be registered.

The first player they want to announce, though, is Lionel Messi. The Argentine becomes a free agent in the coming weeks and has already played his last game for Paris Saint-Germain.

His priority is to return to Barcelona, even though he has multi-million offers from Saudi Arabia and MLS on his table.

His father, Jorge Messi, also met with Joan Laporta at the latter’s house in Barcelona today to discuss a potential transfer. While leaving, he was stopped by the press and quizzed about Leo’s future.

“Messi wants to return to Barcelona, and I would love for him to return. It’s an option,” he said, as quoted by Toni Juanmarti.

He was also asked whether he was confident about the transfer, to which he replied, “Yes.”

Messi is reportedly not worried about the money he is going to receive at the club, as he knows he will have to reduce his salary multi-fold. In fact, he will only be earning €1 more than Robert Lewandowski, as Barcelona want to make him the highest-paid player at the club.

Further, Barça know that his signing will not only improve the team sportingly, but also add immense depth financially, too. According to an internal study they conducted, Messi’s return would bring with it nearly €230 million every year in extra revenue.

Xavi and Laporta both have spoken extensively about Messi’s return in the past few weeks, with the former saying:

“It depends on him [Messi]. If he wants to come to Barça, we will do everything necessary so that he can come. I think the conditions are right. Football-wise I think he could still help us a lot. But it depends on him 99 percent.”

It seems the ball is in Barcelona’s court now, who could wrap up the signing in the coming days with an official offer.