What if? 

©IMAGO

Xavi is an authoritative voice within Barcelona. Although his time as a coach was not as successful as both parties would have liked, his outstanding performance as a footballer and his love for Barça guarantee him the attention of Barcelona fans. This is even more so when he talks about Lionel Messi, as he did in an interview with La Vanguardia, revealing, in the midst of the Barça presidential campaign, that it was Joan Laporta himself who decided that the Argentine star would not return to the club.

Xavi has claimed that Laporta lied about the reasons why Messi did not return to Barça in 2023. The former Barça coach claims that “Leo was signed. In January 2023, after becoming world champion, we got in touch and he told me he was excited to return, and I could see that. We talked until March and I told him, well, when you give me the go-ahead, I’ll tell the president because I can see it from a footballing point of view.” A return that never happened because, according to Xavi himself, it was Laporta who stopped it. “The president started negotiating the contract with Leo’s father, we had the green light from LaLiga, but it was the president who threw everything back. Laporta told me verbatim that if Leo came back, he was going to wage war on him and that he couldn’t allow that.”

A situation that, according to the Catalan coach, led to his relationship with Messi deteriorating, as the Argentine understood that he was also behind the halting of the operation. “He thought I was involved in the plot. It affected my relationship with Leo a lot, but now it’s good again,” Xavi added on the matter.

Xavi closes the door on a possible return to Barça

Despite having come out in favour of the other candidate for the Barça presidency, Víctor Font, Xavi has assured La Vanguardia that his time at the club is a thing of the past. “Now I think I’ll never return to Barça. I’ve already had my time as a player and coach. From now on, my interest is in telling the truth, and Leo is not coming to Barça because the president doesn’t want him to, not because of LaLiga or because Jorge Messi is asking for more money. That’s a lie. It’s the president and his people who are telling him no, that he can’t afford it, that he has all the power and that Messi is going to mismanage that power.”