Despite Lionel Messi receiving an offer to play in Saudi Arabia when his current contract at Paris Saint-Germain expires this summer, Barcelona aren't giving up hope that they can bring him back to the Camp Nou. La Liga president Javier Tebas has already outlined what Barcelona would need to do to make a deal work and Barcelona's president Joan Laporta believes that the club can compete with the offer from Saudi Arabia despite their financial restrictions.
After Barcelona won the La Liga title by defeating Espanyol 4-2 on Sunday, Laporta spoke to TV3 about Barcelona still being in the race for the return of the 36-year-old. After spending 21 years with the club after moving from the Newell's Old Boys academy to Barcelona's academy in 2000, Laporta played into the sentimental value that a Messi return could offer.
"With all due respect to Saudi Arabia -- where a lot of good work and investment is taking place around the league there -- Barca is Barca," Laporta told TV3 on Monday. "Barca is his home. Barca can compete with anyone. The history this club has and the feeling of our 400 million supporters is so strong."
To an extent, he's right as was seen last summer with Barcelona landing Jules Kounde, Robert Lewandowski, and Raphinha despite having similar financial issues but he also alluded that the team is working on a way forward to afford Messi.
"The club is following an austerity plan, but we are working hard to build a competitive team for next season," Laporta said. "We will see if La Liga approves our viability plan."
Adding Tebas' comments on what the club would need to do to bring Messi back with Laporta's shows that there is a viable way for Messi to return but it will come down to if Barcelona can create enough financial flexibility to make a deal happen. It's a long road to actually doing that and along with Saudi Arabis, there is still the question of if Inter Miami are in the race for Messi. There is no doubt Barca will need to sell players to have any chance of landing him, but until he signs a contract, Barcelona won't give up hope that he can return.
