The future of Lionel Messi is up in the air at the moment as the Argentine star has yet to sign an extension with Paris Saint-Germain. Talks on a deal began to heat up during the World Cup with a verbal agreement reportedly being reached.
More than a month after that supposed verbal agreement, nothing has been made official.
Given Messi has not put pen to paper, it began to fuel speculation as to where he might land should he end up not signing a new contract with PSG.
Enter Barcelona.
One of the big hopes for Barcelona supporters is to see the return of their former star. However, those dreams may have taken a massive hit if Messi’s brother has anything to say about it.
Matías Messi was on his son’s Twitch channel and during the livestream, a viewer asked him about a possible return for the World Cup winner.
“We’re not going to return to Barcelona,” Matías said. “And if we were to return, we’d go a good cleaning, among other things throwing out Laporta, the ingrate.”
It’s evident by his words that the hurt from the way Messi was forced to leave the club has not gone away. All throughout that summer Laporta publicly claimed they were confident they could reach a deal and be able to register him.
Messi returned from his holidays and from winning the Copa America fully expecting to sign his new deal and remain with the club. Once he and his father — his agent — arrived, they were met with the shocking news that Barcelona wouldn’t be able to register him and had no choice but to let him leave.
It was clearly a shock to the system made clear as Messi cried during his farewell press conference.
However, his brother’s words should be taken with the weight it warrants. After all, it’s the opinion of a family member and not of the player himself.
According to journalist Toni Juanmartí of Relevo, those in Messi’s inner circle see his words as his and not representative of the player’s. Furthermore, Barcelona is surprised at those words but is not going to comment on them.
El entorno de Messi remarca que las palabras de Matía se tratan únicamente de una opinión personal que no tiene por qué coincidir con las de otros miembos cercanos a Leo.
— Toni Juanmartí (@tjuanmarti) February 8, 2023
El Barça, “sorprendido”, asegura que no quiere comentar nada.
Lo que está claro es que aún sangra la herida
Again, the aftermath of not only leaving but the way he had to leave certainly left more than a sour taste in Messi’s mouth and those close around him.
Internally, Barcelona is going to try to do what they can to bring Messi back if and when he chooses not to re-sign with PSG and sees a return to the Catalan side as a viable option. Until then, if Messi himself doesn’t make an official announcement, Barcelona is going to hold on to the hope of “one last dance.”