Barcelona 'leaving no stone unturned' to finalise dream Lionel Messi return
Barcelona are 'leaving no stone unturned' in their bid to re-sign Lionel Messi, but a deal will not be straightforward to complete, sources have told 90min.
90min revealed back in October that Barcelona were 'exploring' ways to bring Messi back to Camp Nou and there's been a growing belief in recent weeks that a return to the club he previously served for 21 years is likely to happen.
Indeed, direct contact with Messi's representatives is ongoing and an agreement is close to being reached between the two parties.
Messi's current deal at Paris Saint-Germain expires in the summer, and although the Ligue 1 giants have an option to extend by a further year, the contract clause can only be triggered with the 35-year-old's agreement - something he has been unwilling to sanction.
PSG's priority was to re-sign Messi to a new contract following Argentina's World Cup success in Qatar, but despite holding talks, the club were kept waiting by the player's camp and were never able to come to an agreement.
90min revealed at the start of April that PSG had all but given up on Messi agreeing a new deal, which paved the way for Barcelona to push ahead with talks.
Messi's father, Jorge, has been in constant contact with Barca officials in recent months, including president Joan Laporta, who has never hidden his desire to bring him back to the club. 90min also understands that Barcelona have promised Messi he can take back his old number ten shirt, which currently belongs to Ansu Fati.
Laporta is now working hard to complete a deal which will need to be approved by La Liga. However, La Liga president Javier Tebas has already warned the club that big efforts must be made to get any deal through.
"Barca must take many financial measures to undertake Messi’s registration. They need lot of effort to make it happen. Today I don't see his signing as feasible. But there’s a lot of time left, Barca can still make moves to get Leo. We are still awaiting a feasibility plan from Barcelona. They need a big effort to make it happen," Tebas stated earlier this month.
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90min understands that Barcelona are exploring all possible options to get a deal for Messi through, and an avenue they are evaluating is employing Messi not just as a player, but also as part of the club's hierarchy and maybe even as a board member.
This is not a negotiation tactic without precedent. When looking at a possible Cristiano Ronaldo deal last summer, Sporting CP explored making him a part owner of the club, and while that is not an option for Barca and Messi, they do believe the possibility of him being part of the club's off-field business could help off-set his playing contract.
Sources have told 90min that although a deal is complicated, 'no stone is being left unturned' by Barcelona to make sure they bring Messi back to the club, but also to ensure that his contract is approved by the authorities.
Barcelona have been left hugely annoyed by La Liga's refusal to sanction some of the moves they made last summer such as the handling of Gavi and Ronald Araujo's contracts. They don't want a repeat of those situations with any summer transfers, including Messi.
As well as Messi, Barca are also in talks with a number of other players such as Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan, but they know that in order to push through their plans, then changes to the current squad are going to have to be made.
90min understands that while Barca consider and insist that the likes of Frenkie De Jong and Ousmane Dembele are 'unsellable', the message coming from the very top is that all options will be considered - if that means some star players need to be sold, then so be it.
De Jong is a long-term target of Manchester United and could be their most sellable asset if they allow him to leave, while Dembele, who has just over 12 months left on his current deal, is of interest to a number of Premier League clubs and could be sacrificed to facilitate a return to Catalonia for Messi.
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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss Chelsea's likely appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, the carnage at Tottenham and Harry Kane's next steps, David de Gea and Harry Maguire's Man Utd futures, Lionel Messi's impending Barcelona return & more!
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