Xavi drops Lionel Messi bombshell as Barcelona return ‘blocked’ by Laporta

March 9, 2026 Oliver Obel

Former Barcelona midfielder and coach Xavi Hernández says Lionel Messi was close to returning to the club in 2023 before president Joan Laporta ultimately decided not to proceed with the move.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Xavi said discussions about bringing the Argentine forward back to Camp Nou advanced early that year, shortly after Messi won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina.

“Laporta doesn’t tell the truth there either. Leo was signed,” Xavi said in the interview.

Xavi explained that he contacted Messi in January 2023, when the forward was nearing the end of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain and considering his next step.

“In January 2023, after becoming world champion, we contacted and he tells me that he is excited to return and I see him,” Xavi said.

According to the former Barcelona coach, talks then progressed between the club and Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, and there was early optimism that a deal could meet La Liga’s financial rules.

“Laporta begun negotiating the contract with Leo’s father and we had the green light from La Liga, but it is the president who backed out on everything,” he said.

Xavi said Laporta later raised concerns about the financial impact a Messi return could have on Barcelona’s wage structure.

“Laporta told me that if Leo came back, there would be a wage war and he couldn’t afford that,” Xavi said. “And then suddenly Leo stopped picking up the phone because on the other hand they had told him that it could not be done.”

“My interest is to tell the truth, which is that Messi is never returning to Barcelona simply because Laporta doesn’t want that – it’s not because of La Liga or Jorge Messi asking for money, that’s all a lie.”

Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta were key figures in one of the most successful periods in Barcelona’s history, helping the club win four Champions League titles between 2006 and 2015.

Financial constraints forced Barcelona to let Messi leave in 2021 after the club was unable to register a new contract under La Liga’s salary rules. The Argentine then spent two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain before departing in 2023.

Laporta has previously said he hoped to repair relations with Messi and that he would welcome a future meeting with the club’s former captain.

Messi instead joined Major League Soccer side Inter Miami in the summer of 2023, a move widely reported at the time as ending speculation about a possible return to Barcelona.

Sources: La Vanguardia, Reuters, ESPN