Barcelona president confirms holding a meeting with Messi’s father

Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirmed in a recent media interaction that the club indeed had a meeting with Lionel Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi.

Reports over the past few weeks had been doing the rounds that there had been a meeting between Laporta and Messi’s father to discuss a possible return to the club in the summer, among several other things.

Laporta has confirmed that a meeting indeed did take place during which the topic of a tribute to the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was discussed.

“Yes, we met up with Leo Messi’s father. He knows that we’re very happy to see him win the World Cup. We talked about a tribute to Leo,” the Barcelona president said (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

However, Laporta was reluctant to talk about any potential move to sign Messi later this year when his contract with PSG expires.

“I refuse to talk about Messi’s return to Barcelona as a player out of respect for PSG and the player himself,” he added.

The Barça supremo then reflected on Messi’s exit from the club in 2021, stating that he would still take the same decision as he did back then.

“I would make the same decision again with Messi. The institution is above. The situation was very complicated. I didn’t know how to do it, but I had to choose and in this case I chose the institution,” Laporta said.

Messi’s contract with PSG runs out at the end of the season and as things stand, there is no guarantee that he will renew with the French giants.

Recent reports have even suggested that negotiations have taken place between Barcelona and Messi about a possible reunion and only time will tell if it materialises.