Lionel Messi’s Barcelona Return: Explaining Xavi, Joan Laporta’s Explosive War of Words

Xavi Hernández’s sensational claims about a “done deal” for Lionel Messi’s return have inspired a scathing response from Laporta.

Lionel Messi has found himself at the center of the current Barcelona presidential election. | Gisela Jané/Hector Vivas/FIFA/Angel Martinez/Fran Santiago/Patrick Smith/Javier Borrego/Europa Press/Getty Images

Lionel Messi hasn’t played for Barcelona in almost half a decade. His only return to Camp Nou since he tearfully bid farewell to the club in 2021 was under the cover of night while the stadium was still under reconstruction. Yet his influence over the Catalan sporting institution remains suffocating.

The greatest player in Barcelona’s history has refused to publicly back either of the two candidates running in the club’s ongoing elections but may very well still sway the votes that are cast on March 15.

Messi finds himself at the epicenter of this month’s elections because of a move he didn’t make—namely, his failed return to Barcelona in the summer of 2023.

Joan Laporta, the favorite to rapidly return as the club’s president, was the incumbent who oversaw Messi’s Barcelona exit in 2021 and his unsuccessful bid to come back two years later. The outspoken candidate has done his best to downplay these events, blaming La Liga’s strict financial regulations, but the legendary former club captain and manager Xavi Hernández has come out on the attack to rubbish Laporta’s claims.

Víctor Font, Laporta’s only other challenger for the presidency, has promised to remove Deco as sporting director which could in turn prompt Hansi Flick’s departure as manager. The prospect of turning Barcelona into a limited company rather than a fan-owned enterprise has also been floated. In short, this election has the potential to dramatically change the face of Barcelona immediately and in the long term.

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Laporta’s Explanation for Messi’s Failed Return

The relationship between Messi and Joan Laporta (right) is frosty. | David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in 2021. After a difficult debut season adapting to a new league, country and language for the first time in his senior career, Messi struck a rich vein of form in the buildup up to the 2022 World Cup, which he would win with Argentina.

Riding high from that long-awaited triumph, the ageing forward plotted his Barcelona return with the help of his father and agent, Jorge.

“In 2023, we prepared the contract and sent it to Jorge Messi,” Laporta claimed at a public debate with Font, reiterating a series of events which he had previously laid out in his modestly titled book, This is How We Saved Barça. “It was mid-March. In May, Jorge came to my house and told me it couldn’t be done and that he would be under too much pressure here. That they preferred to go to Miami.”

Messi explained at the time that it was a financial issue. “I heard that Barcelona had to sell players or lower player salaries and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that,” he revealed.

“I really wanted to return, I was very excited to be able to return, but, on the other hand, after having experienced what I experienced when I left, I didn’t want to be in the same situation again. I didn’t want to leave my future in someone else’s hands.”

Xavi had a different story.

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‘Leo Was Signed’—Xavi’s Scathing Laporta Takedown

Xavi Hernández has been out of the management game since leaving Barcelona. | Fran Santiago/Getty Images

“The president isn’t telling the truth,” Xavi emphatically declared during a brutally critical takedown of Laporta in La Vanguardia. “Leo was signed.

“In January 2023, after winning the World Cup, we got in touch and he told me he was keen to come back, and I saw it. We talked until March and I told him, ‘Well, when you give me the O.K., I’ll tell the president because I see it as a good fit from a footballing perspective.’

“We’d been talking with Leo for five months. It was a done deal, there were no doubts from a footballing perspective, and financially we were going to Montjuïc and we were going to have a last dance like [Michael] Jordan’s, everything was ready.”

What went wrong? Xavi had a simple explanation.

“The president started negotiating the contract with Leo’s father, and we had La Liga’s approval, but it was the president who threw everything out,” the former midfielder sensationally claimed.

“Laporta told me, verbatim, that if Leo came back, he was going to wage war against him and that he couldn’t allow it.”

In the eyes of Xavi, it was a question of control. “Leo isn’t coming to Barça because the president doesn’t want him,” he surmised, “not because of La Liga or because Jorge Messi is asking for more money—that’s a lie. It’s the president and his people who are telling him no, that he can’t afford it, that he has all the power and that Messi will mismanage that power.”

Font has repeatedly talked up the prospect of bringing Messi back to Barcelona in some vague capacity. Xavi—who has given his support to Font—believes that the 38-year-old Inter Miami captain can still cut it among the European elite.

“I was dying for Leo to come back, and I still think he would help the team score goals, provide the final passes, without a doubt,” the out-of-work coach gushed. “He’s going to play in a World Cup! Leo would triumph again at Camp Nou, and it was his wish and mine. He knows it, he knows it now, but there was a time when I couldn’t communicate with him. It was a shame, but it’s the fault of those who are there.”

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Laporta Snaps Back at Xavi

Joan Laporta (left) and Xavi once had a strong relationship. | Urbanandsport/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Xavi’s explosive interview was published the day before Laporta took on Font in a eagerly anticipated debate. The experienced politician used the rebuke as an opportunity to take a swipe at his former coach. “It surprised me. It hurt me,” he reflected. “The thing is, when I read these statements from Xavi, I think of [Hansi] Flick.”

Much of Xavi’s interview was spent pouring over the club’s muddled decision to get rid of him as manager in the summer of 2024. Laporta oddly escaped the most severe criticism in this regard, as Xavi bluntly wrote the president off as a puppet while Alejandro Echeverría, Laporta’s former brother-in-law, ran the show.

Laporta dismissed that claim and instead shifted the focus towards the success of Xavi’s replacement, Flick, who won a domestic treble in his first season at Barcelona.

“Very difficult decisions were made for the club,” Laporta reflected. “I did what I had to do. With almost the same players, Xavi lost and Flick won.

“He’s trying to attack Alejandro Echeverría. Both he and [Rafa] Yuste defended Xavi’s continuity until the very end. Xavi has been used by Font. This is a style I don’t like, and neither do Barcelona fans.”

Whether Barcelona fans appreciate this aggressive approach is beside the point—Laporta will be more concerned about how many of Xavi’s staggering claims they believe.

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