I am not afraid of Lionel Messi, says Barcelona presidential candidate Joan Laporta

Joan Laporta insists he is not afraid Lionel Messi will derail his bid to reclaim the Barcelona presidency.

Laporta goes up against Victor Font on Sunday but his final week of campaigning has been disrupted by claims he kiboshed a move to bring Messi back to Camp Nou in 2023.

The accusation was made by then Barca boss Xavi in an interview yesterday. Messi had just won the World Cup with Argentina and was exploring his options with his contract at Paris Saint-Germain due to expire that summer. Xavi says he spoke to his former team-mate and a verbal agreement was in place for Messi to return to the club for whom he had scored a record 672 goals before leaving in 2021 with the financially stricken Catalan giants unable to keep him.

The deal was nearing completion but, according to Xavi, Laporta pulled the plug with Messi eventually going to Inter Miami. Laporta has always claimed it was Messi who opted against moving back to Barca due to the pressure it would have created.

Asked this morning if he feared either Messi, or his father Jorge, would confirm Xavi’s story over the coming days, Laporta told COPE: “No, not at all. I am convinced he [Jorge Messi] would say the same as me, because the conversation was what it was, unless they change versions. But I don’t think they will change versions because with Jorge we have always understood each other. 

“What we don’t want is to divert attention from what interests the culés, because the president and the board of directors are [going to be] elected, and in this context Xavi’s contribution means absolutely nothing. If he has stolen any votes from me then the polls will say.”

Messi row overshadows real Barcelona issues, says Laporta

The issue is an unwanted distraction for Laporta, who is hoping to remain president and extend his tenure that has already lasted for 12 years over two spells. 

He added: ”I don’t understand what Xavi says. Leo had to return [to Barcelona] after his time at PSG, Jorge Messi came home and told me that they would be better off in Miami than in Saudi Arabia or Barcelona, where they would have a lot of pressure. 

“This [issue] is only trying to distort the election. What Xavi says is not true, but is being used by Font and does not contribute anything to the electoral debate.”

Xavi was sacked by Laporta in May 2024, four months after the club persuaded him to reconsider his original decision to walk away at the end of that season.

Laporta is lying over Messi, claims Xavi

The former Spain midfielder was asked about Messi in an explosive interview with La Vanguardia and said: “The president is lying about what happened with Messi. Leo was signed. In January of 2023, after he had won the World Cup, I spoke to him and he told me he was excited to return.

“We spoke until March and I told him: ‘Once you give me the OK, I will tell the president because it works perfectly on a football level.’

“The president negotiated the contract with Leo’s dad [Jorge] and we had the green light from La Liga financially, but it was the president who pulled out.

“He told me verbatim that if Messi came back, he would make a war [against Laporta]. My interest is in telling the truth. Leo didn’t come because the president didn’t want him.

“It’s a lie to say it’s because La Liga [wouldn’t allow it financially] or Jorge Messi asked for more money. It was the president and his people who said they could not allow it, that he [Laporta] has all the power and that Messi would handle that badly.”