Xavi blames Joan Laporta for derailing Lionel Messi's Barcelona return after 2022 World Cup
(Courtesy : LaLiga)
The Argentine star was close to re-joining the club in 2023.
In a shocking revelation, former Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has revealed that Joan Laporta purposefully denied Lionel Messi’s return to the club in 2023. Fans’ hopes were dashed when Laporta allegedly rejected the deal, even though LaLiga had granted permission to re-sign the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner that summer.
Just one week before the Barcelona presidential elections, Xavi has revealed a number of shocking details about his time as head coach in an incredible interview. A deal to re-sign Messi was essentially finalised in early 2023, according to Xavi, who was fired from his head coach position in May 2024.
After Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar, Xavi disclosed that the superstar was excited to return to Catalonia. “We are going to do a last dance like Jordan’s,” he said, pitching it to Messi’s father, Jorge, as a spectacular conclusion.
Xavi reveals why Laporta blocked Lionel Messi’s return to Barcelona
After his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expired that summer, the forward moved to MLS team Inter Miami as a result of the failed deal.
Xavi in a interview with La Vanguardia said:
“The president isn’t telling the truth there either. Leo was signed. In January 2023, after winning the World Cup, we got in touch, and he told me he was excited about coming back, and I saw it. We talked until March, and I told him, ‘Okay, when you give me the OK, I’ll tell the president because I see it as a good move from a footballing perspective.’ Then what happened? The president started negotiating the contract with Leo’s father, and we had La Liga’s approval, but it was the president who threw everything out. Did he explain why? Laporta told me, and I quote, that if Leo came back, he was going to wage war against him and that he couldn’t allow it.”
“And then suddenly Leo stopped answering my calls because he’d been told on the other end that it couldn’t be done. And when I called his father, I said, ‘This can’t be, Jorge,’ and he said, ‘Talk to the president.’ And I insisted that we’d been talking with Leo for five months, it was a done deal, there were no doubts about his footballing ability, and financially we were going to Montjuïc and we were going to do it.”
The relationship between Xavi & Messi damaged
“Did it take a while before I spoke with Messi again? Yes, because he thought I was part of the whole scheme. It affected my relationship with Leo a lot, but now it’s good again,” Xavi said. “He knows that now, he understands it now, but there was a period when I couldn’t communicate with him. It was a shame, but it was because of those who are in charge.”
Xavi added on whether Messi could still retrace his steps: “Leo Messi is never returning to Barcelona simply because Laporta doesn’t want that. It not because of La Liga or Jorge Messi is asking for money, that’s all a lie. It’s Laporta who is telling his camp that the club can’t afford him.”
Xavi says his chapter with Barcelona is closed
The former Barcelona coach also spoke about his future with the club and revealed that his time with the team is over and he will never return to the club as a coach after the president’s advisor, Alejandro Echevarría, pulled all the strings behind the scenes at the club to get him sacked.
“My chapter with Barça as a coach and player is over — I am never going back. A media campaign begun against me. Alejandro dedicated himself by talking to footballers, such as Sergi Roberto, Araújo, Pedri or Raphinha, and told them that I wanted to sell them off.”
The former midfielder also disclosed who actually decided to get rid of him from the club. It wasn’t the club’s president, Laporta, but someone else. He said:
“In fact, I signed for Barça thanks to Laporta. But in the end he failed me!”
“He got rid of me as coach without telling me the truth, influenced by someone who I believe is above the president… His name is Alejandro Echevarría.”
“In other words, the person who decided to dismiss me as coach was Alejandro Echevarría. But that’s how this Barça works. Alejandro Echevarría practically runs the club.”
Why Joan Laporta didn’t sign Lionel Messi?
According to Xavi, Laporta explained his decision by stating that if Messi returned, it would initiate a “wage war” and a power struggle that he could not allow
Who sacked Xavi?
In his latest interview, he said that Alejandro Echevarría sacked him.
Who is Alejandro Echevarría?
He is the former brother-in-law of the president Joan Laporta, who now acts as the president’s advisor.
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After earning a bachelor's degree in mass media, Rajarshi began his career as a sports writer in 2019, driven by his passion for sports journalism. He has been working in the field for over six years. A devoted fan of Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Rajarshi has been involved in sports since childhood. Before turning his focus to journalism, he even represented his college at the state level. Along with covering football, he enjoys playing the game, watching movies, and experimenting with new recipes in his spare time, as cooking is one of his favorite hobbies.