Laporta on Messi: “Barcelona can compete with Saudi Arabia and anyone”

The president of FC Barcelona, ​​​​Joan Laporta, assured this Monday that the Barcelona club “can compete with Saudi Arabia and anyone”, in relation to the alleged millionaire offer that Argentina’s Leo Messi received from Al-Hilal Saudi. “Barcelona is Barcelona and it is their home. But we don’t want to go into big numbers, because that would be a setback. These are not numbers we can face, neither with Messi nor with anyone,” Laporta said in an interview with els matins TV3 after winning the League title.

Therefore, if the PSG striker dons the Barca shirt again, it will not be for economic reasons, but because the sentimental bridges necessary for his return have been rebuilt. “I spoke to Leo to redirect the situation that happened. We have been corresponding lately. He is back (to Barcelona) and there is a connection,” Laporta revealed.

If the Argentine star finally returns, he will meet with his former team-mate Xavi Hernández, who would now be his coach and has a contract until 2024. “We want to renew him, but we are in a savings plan, Xavi knows that and he is a club man” , pointed out Laporta about the offer about his continuity.

The coach’s new contract will no longer be negotiated by the current football director Mateu Alemany, who will design a new sports project for Aston Villa in the Premier League next season and who could be replaced by former Barcelona player Anderson Luis de Souza Deco. “Deco could jump to technical secretary. It could be the one to take the place of Mateu Alemany”, confirmed Laporta, who would like Jordi Cruyff to continue at the club to work “side by side” with the new head of the sports project.

In any case, Laporta assured that Barcelona are “in a position to sign” this summer, if LaLiga approves the feasibility plan it has presented for the next two seasons. “We will strengthen the defense, the midfield and the forwards so that we can compete in the Champions League,” announced Laporta, who is confident that he can keep Gavi – “I am convinced that he will continue to be a Barça player – and in continuity with Ansu Fati: “He is a player we love and who wants to succeed here,” he said.