The advisor to Barcelona president Joan Laporta has discussed club legend Lionel Messi and the reasons why he did not return to Camp Nou this summer.
Barcelona were interested in bringing back their best-ever player, who originally left for Paris Saint-Germain due to financial problems at the Catalan club in 2021, for a second spell at Camp Nou.
However, Messi ultimately signed for Inter Miami instead, ending dreams of a romantic return for the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner.
In conversation with Sport, Enric Masip was asked if he thought Messi's return to Barcelona had been an option.
"I think so, in the conditions that were talked about, yes," he said. "If he had been excited about coming here, an effort would have been made.
"In the end, everyone decides to go where they have their dreams and their life project. He gave up earning money in [Saudi] Arabia to go to the United States. He seems happy with his family."
After signing for Inter Miami, Messi offered a slightly different version of events.
"Obviously I really wanted it, I was very excited to be able to return to Barcelona," the Argentine said in an interview with Sport and El Mundo Deportivo.
"But on the other hand, after having experienced what I did and the exit I had, I did not want to be in the same situation again: waiting to see what was going to happen, leaving my future in someone else's hands, so to speak. I wanted to make my own decision, thinking about myself, about my family."
And he added: "Even though I heard that LaLiga had accepted everything and that it was all OK for me to return, there were still so many things to be sorted out. I heard they had to sell players or reduce the wages of others, and I didn’t want to go through that, nor take charge of having to do with all that.
"I have already been accused of many things that were not true in my career at Barcelona and I was already a bit tired, I didn’t want to go through all that."
Messi scored 672 goals in 778 appearances for Barcelona, winning 34 trophies in an extraordinary 17-year career at the Catalan club.
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