October 08, (THEWILL) –Â After failing to be in the financial position to offer Lionel Messi a new contract, Barcelona President Joan Laporta confessed he had hoped Messi would offer to play for the club for free or pro bono.
As THEWILL reported, due to Barca’s financial difficulties, Messi was unable to sign a new contract this summer, and he ended up joining Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona were aware of PSG’s interest and the big contract offer they had prepared for Messi, according to Laporta, and he still insists that he does not hold anything against him for leaving.
Laporta confessed:Â “I love him too much to be angry. But there comes a time when you see that things just cannot happen, and there was disappointment on both sides. There was a desire for him to stay, but pressure because of the offer he had. He knew that he’d go to PSG if he didn’t stay.
“He’ll go down as the best player in the history of Barcelona and I want that to be preserved. Everything indicates that he had the PSG offer before leaving Barcelona. We knew he had a big offer.
“When it came to making the decision, I thought I was doing the best thing for Barcelona. I hoped there would be a change and that he’d say he’d play for free, but we cannot expect a player of his level to do that.
“We have a very good relationship. I knew that if we recovered financially we would compensate him, but we couldn’t make demands knowing the offer he had in Paris.”
Barcelona has had a poor start to the season. They are currently in ninth place in La Liga and have lost both of their Champions League games by a score of 3-0 putting increasing pressure on the Dutch manager Ronald Koeman.
Messi, on the other hand, has only scored once since joining PSG.
Les Parisiens defeated Manchester City 2-0 thanks to his long-range shot. But there is also some pressure that PSG have to deal with well after a star-studded PSG that included Messi lost 2-0 to Rennes last weekend.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
