Barca planning Messi’s return this summer, Xavi confirms meeting

• There have been reports that FC Barcelona met with La Liga officials to discuss the return of Lionel Messi
• Lionel Messi’s contract with PSG comes to an end this summer and Barca are doing everything possible to ensure he returns to Camp Nou

Earlier this weeks, there were reports that FC Barcelona met with La Liga officials to discuss the return of Lionel Messi.

Well, FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez confirmed the reports as true while speaking to reporters, as per Goal.com. According to Xavi, the Catalan giants remain interested in bringing Lionel Messi back to La Liga from Ligue 1 where he is playing for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Xavi confirmed Barcelona met with La Liga over Lionel Messi’s possible return. Photo/ FC Barcelona.

Lionel Messi’s contract with PSG comes to an end this summer and Barca are doing everything possible to ensure he returns to Camp Nou.

Besides discussing the return of Lionel Messi, Xavi also talked about Barcelona’s plan to improve the squad this coming summer transfer window. Barca’s main focus at the moment is winning the La Liga title this season. They remain 11 points ahead of Real Madrid despite the shock defeat at the hands of Rayo Vallecano this week.

“Yes [Barcelona met with La Liga], but not only for the possible arrival of Leo. We’ll see in order to improve the squad for next year, but it is not the important issue; there is still a league to win. This is a matter of Mateu (Alemany) and he informs us, but, in theory, everything is going well. In the end, we don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. It’s very soon to talk about it. We will talk about possible signings.” Xavi Hernandez told reporters, as per Goal.

Meeting Between Barcelona And La Liga Was ‘Very Positive’ 

According to Barca News, La Liga officials and FC Barcelona had a meeting where the club submitted an economic viability plan for approval.

Director Mateu Alemany and treasurer Ferran Olivé met with La Liga officials to discuss Barcelona’s Fair Play issue. The Financial Fair Play issue  will reduce the club’s salary mass by a large amount. According to Barca News, the meeting between Barcelona and La Liga officials was ‘very positive’.

According to the plan submitted by Barcelona, several players will be sold this summer and remodeling of the squad done. The club will reduce their wage bill by a massive €180 million.

If everything goes well, Barcelona will press ahead and table a contract offer for World Cup winner Lionel Messi. The Argentine is willing to take a reduced salary so as to return to his boyhood club Barcelona.

Lionel Messi joined PSG in the summer of 2021 and will be a free agent this summer. The Argentine has been having a very difficult time in France for the past few weeks. This is because some of the fans are unhappy with his performance. Messi’s performance since the turn of the year has not been the same. This has fuelled the rhetoric that Messi just wanted to be at his best for the World Cup and doesn’t care about PSG matches now.

Lionel Messi is not having an easy time playing for PSG. Photo/ The Indian Express.