Lionel Messi confirms he'd like Barcelona return - at some point

Lionel Messi admits he'd like to return to Barcelona in the future, although any return to the Catalan giants may happen after he's retired as a player.

The 34-year-old sensationally departed Camp Nou during the summer as the extent of a financial crisis at Barcelona came to light during negotiations to renew his rather sizeable contract.

To cut a long story short, Barça were financially incapable of offering Messi a new deal, and were forced to let him walk away from the club for free - an unfathomable prospect for the most avid supporters of the club.

Messi immediately signed for Ligue 1 heavyweights PSG on a two-year deal, forming the most dangerous looking front line in the world - alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

However, talk of Messi returning to Barcelona will, in all probability, never go away.

To add fuel to the fire, Messi has granted an interview to Spanish publication Sport just two months after his arrival in Paris - which will be published in full on Monday - where he's answered the question many have wanted to ask since he departed; would he like to return to Barcelona in the future?

"Yes. I always said that I would love to be able to help the club in what could be useful and can add and help the club to be well," Messi confessed.

"I would love to be a technical secretary at some point. I don't know if it will be at Barcelona or not. Or if it will be otherwise. If there is a possibility, I would like to contribute again in what I can because it is the club that I love and I would love for it to continue to be good, to continue growing and to continue being one of the best in the world."

In Messi's absence, Barcelona have been on a slippery slope to say the least. They also had to rid themselves of Antoine Griezmann for financial reasons, and their current crop of players frankly haven't looked up to it at times.

Ronald Koeman has already paid for Barça's dreadfully inconsistent form with his job, and the club are languishing in ninth place in La Liga - having won just four of their opening 11 league games.

Worse still, Barça are in danger of crashing out of the Champions League, unless they can turn things around in Group E. Battered by Bayern Munich and Benfica already, they must rely on beating Dynamo Kyiv for a second time - before turning their attention to winning at least one of their other two remaining group games.