When it was announced that Lionel Messi was leaving FC Barcelona after 20 years due to “financial and structural” obstacles, nobody liked it. Messi didn’t like it, Barca didn’t like it, and we as fans sure as anything didn’t like it. At the time, everyone kept the door open for Messi’s possible return to Camp Nou, and it looks like it could actually be happening sooner rather than later.
To discuss the feasibility of a Messi return to Barcelona, we must first undertake an autopsy on the Argentina forward’s departure. Last year, Messi was forced to leave FC Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) because the club simply couldn’t afford to renew his deal within the spending limit imposed by LaLiga.
RELATED: Kylian Mbappé Will Now Earn A Jaw-Dropping $215,000 PER DAY
Fast forward to the present day, you’ll find that the landscape has greatly shifted for Barca. Their LaLiga salary cap has increased from negative €144 million (AU$217 million in the red) to over €600 million (AU$907 million) and has asset sales in excess of €700 million (AU$1 billion).
It’s also worth noting that the 35-year-old Messi will be out of a contract with PSG in June 2023, meaning he could conceivably return to Barcelona on a free transfer.
“It would be possible financially because if he returned, it would be as a free agent,” FC Barcelona Vice President Eduard Romeu told Catalunya Radio.
“But it’s a decision which has to be made by the coaching staff and the player. It doesn’t correspond to me [to make those decisions], but it would be viable.”
FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta is also overjoyed at the possibility of seeing the return of La Pulga. As Laporta told ESPN earlier this year:
“Messi was everything.”
“To Barca, he’s been possibly its greatest player, the most efficient. To me he’s only comparable to Johan Cruyff. But it had to happen one day. We had to make a decision as a consequence of what we inherited. The institution is in charge of players, coaches.”
“I would hope that the Messi chapter isn’t over. I think it’s our responsibility to try to … find a moment to fix that chapter, which is still open and hasn’t closed, so it turns out like it should have, and that it has a more beautiful ending.”
Let’s see how this one plays out, shall we?
