Is Messi returning to Barcelona? Part 4

At the moment, many European clubs including FC Barcelona, Manchester City, and Newcastle United as well as many non-European clubs including Al Hilal, Inter Miami FC & Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys are reportedly interested in signing the 7 times Ballon Do’or winner. But all the news about the offers will become clear, once the following European season ends in June. Right now, the official offer on the table is from Saudi club Al Hilal, who has offered Lionel Messi a mouth-watering salary of 400M Euros per year.

Offers on the Table & What’s Next for Messi?

Right now, the official offer on the table is from Saudi club Al Hilal, who has offered Lionel Messi a mouth-watering salary of 400M Euros per year, which is double that of his rival superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who is currently playing in Saudi club Al Nassr with a salary of 200M Euros a year. The idea of the Saudi club in bringing Messi to Saudi Arabia is to see Messi-Ronaldo rivalry once again as Al Hilal and Al Nassr are two bitter rivals in Saudi League.

Most of the French as well as International sources have already declared the news of ‘Messi leaving PSG this Summer’ which seems to be most likely, but we cannot rule out him staying at PSG for one more season. The question comes How & Why? Here is the answer to it.

A very interesting incident happened this past week. PSG, who played their Ligue 1 game last Sunday and surprisingly lost 3-1 against a comparatively weaker side Lorient FC and leaving the difference between the direct rivals Marseille to just 5 points who are currently in the 2nd spot in the French League below PSG who are at 1st spot currently made things even negative at the French Capital. And as usual, PSG players had a day off on Monday after the game and Lionel Messi scheduled a business trip to Saudi Arabia on Monday knowing a day off from the club as usual as he is the brand ambassador of Saudi Arabia Tourism and he left for Saudi Arabia on Monday.

And as he was on his halfway, the Parisian club changed their plan and scheduled First Team Training on Monday. And this news of Messi being absent from training due to a trip to Saudi without taking the Club’s permission spread in the Media like fire. And the French Board, reportedly the club’s President Nassar Al Khelaifi and Luis Campos took action against the Argentine and ‘Suspended Messi for Two Weeks’ with immediate effect due to which Messi will neither be able to train at French Club nor play on the Matchday for 2 Weeks. Everyone was pointing towards Messi leaving PSG news and said that now it’s confirmed that Messi will leave the club after that incident and according to multiple sources the club took action against Messi more in the course of his rejecting PSG’s contract renewing Proposal rather than the Saudi trip.

Anyway, the relationship between the player and the club seemed to be broken after the incident but another interesting event happened after Messi’s Suspension as the Argentine came out with an ‘Apology video’ on his Instagram account in which he apologized to his Team-mates as well as explained the whole situation himself. He said that ‘he thought the club would have a day off after the game as usual but the club’s plan changed when he was the halfway to Saudi Trip and he couldn’t cancel it because he already had canceled this trip multiple times in the past due to some reasons and this time he couldn’t do that again.’

Well, this apology of Messi was highly Praised by the French board as well as by the Media and the French club accepted it by lifting the suspension on him which will now allow him to train as well play on Matchday. Well, this can have its other side as well as a few media sources are claiming that the relationship between the French Club and the player has once again built up positively, and now there could be chances of Messi staying in Paris for one more season. But many sources have denied this news as they think that the Argentine only made an apology video so that his last few weeks with the French club go well without any tension and bad relation with the club and its players.

So at the moment, the favorite clubs who are in the race of signing Messi this Summer are FC Barcelona, Al Hilal, and Inter Miami as well as not ruling the French club out of the race for Messi’s contract renewal. But more offers are pretty much expected once the current European season ends as Lionel Messi is still one of the most demanding players in the Football World.

Chances of Messi’s Dream Return to FC Barcelona

According to multiple sources, the Argentine already a Legend of the Catalan Club wants to return to FC Barcelona this Summer and wants to end his career at FC Barcelona happily where it all started for him and it can look more likely as he has a lot of friends in Barcelona as he spent almost 16 Years living and playing there and also because his friend and former teammate Xavi is the current club coach. And as we have discussed earlier about his achievements and what he has done for the Spanish club, he is loved by the Barcelona fans as well as by the players and board and they would love him to see once again at Barca.

The senior players of Barca who have already played with Messi have already spoken about him.

Sergi Roberto: “I’m hoping Messi returns. We are awaiting his arrival. The treatment he gets in Paris is not fair to him. Leo is needed in Barcelona, and we are waiting for him.”

Ronald Araujo, the Uruguayan defender and a former teammate of Messi said about the Argentine: “He’s the best player in the entire world, he calls this place home. We might make a serious run at another Champions League title with his comeback. There’s a decent chance we’ll see him again, I hope. Each of us wants him by our sides.”

The only big problem for Barca to re-sign Messi this Summer remains their financial situation as they will have to cut the wages of many players and the club is already having a problem registering players like Araujo and Gavi to the first team due to financial fair play. And if Lionel Messi has to join Barca he will have to receive a very low salary of around 10M-13M Euros only which is much lower than that of the Argentine’s previous salary. But according to the people close to the Argentine, Messi is willing to take even this huge pay cut just to return to the Catalan side. And Barca is reportedly working to find ways and make a plan for Messi,s return as Barcelona’s vice president admits contact with Messi for his return. And according to many sources, Barca’s coach Xavi Hernandez is in constant contact with his close friend Lionel Messi.

Xavi who is the current head coach of Barça and a former teammate of Messi also shared his thoughts about the Argentine’s return to the Spanish side: “Leo’s probable return to Barcelona is to date not known. We’re concentrating on La Liga. We’ll discuss those subjects once we win. In private, Xavi continues to press Leo to come home. He’s already made numerous calls to him.

Barca president Joan Laporta has already said many times that he wants Messi to return to Barcelona as he thinks that he’s in debt to fans and Messi because he decided Messi to leave the club in 2021 so he greatly wants to see him in Blaugrana colors again.

La Liga President Javier Tebas also talked about Messi’s return and Barça’s financial situation pointing out that it will be very challenging as Barça will have to adjust player salaries and then make a plan but what is on the side of Barça is time, they can think of a plan that could bring the Argentine back to Nou Camp but Lionel’s salary will then also be a big question.

So finally, we can at the moment only say that Barcelona is working on Messi’s return and the foremost desire of the World Champion is also to return to the Catalan side with many reports claiming about Messi’s future that Lionel Messi will only join the Saudi club Al Hilal if he is not able to return to Barcelona but Messi’s priority remains to stay in Europe playing Top football at least until Copa America 2024. Well let’s see what the future holds but what we can say is that a very interesting Summer is on the folds.