Xavi claims Joan Laporta BLOCKED Lionel Messi's homecoming transfer to Barcelona after La Liga green light in bombshell new interview

Messi - Laporta - Xavi

Former Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has dropped a massive bombshell, claiming that Joan Laporta deliberately vetoed Lionel Messi's return to the club in 2023. Despite securing La Liga approval to re-sign the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner that summer, Laporta allegedly blocked the transfer, shattering fans' dreams.

Messi denied 'Last Dance' at Barca

In a stunning interview with La Vanguardia just a week before the Barcelona presidential elections, Xavi has dropped a series of bombshells regarding his tenure as head coach. The legendary midfielder, who was sacked from the role in May 2024, has claimed that a deal for Messi was practically finalised in early 2023.

Xavi revealed that the superstar was eager to return to Catalonia following his World Cup triumph with Argentina in Qatar. He even pitched it to Messi's father Jorge as a magical finale, saying: "We are going to do a last dance like Jordan's." Ultimately, the collapsed deal saw the forward instead move to MLS side Inter Miami upon the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain that summer.

Messi Laporta

'He was going to wage war'

Xavi said: "The president isn't telling the truth there either. Leo was signed. In January 2023, after winning the World Cup, we got in touch, and he told me he was excited about coming back, and I saw it. We talked until March, and I told him, 'Okay, when you give me the OK, I'll tell the president because I see it as a good move from a footballing perspective.' Then what happened? The president started negotiating the contract with Leo's father, and we had La Liga's approval, but it was the president who threw everything out. Did he explain why? Laporta told me, and I quote, that if Leo came back, he was going to wage war against him and that he couldn't allow it. And then suddenly Leo stopped answering my calls because he'd been told on the other end that it couldn't be done. And when I called his father, I said, 'This can't be, Jorge,' and he said, 'Talk to the president.' And I insisted that we'd been talking with Leo for five months, it was a done deal, there were no doubts about his footballing ability, and financially we were going to Montjuïc and we were going to do it."

Relationship between Xavi & Messi damaged

Xavi went on to reveal that the whole saga damaged his relationship with Messi, who was once one of the Argentine's most valued team-mates at Barca. Messi was forced to leave the club in 2021 because they couldn't afford to hand him a contract extension, according to Laporta, and the La Masia academy graduate had his heart broken again when trying to arrange a return to Catalonia, with Xavi seemingly caught in the crossfire.

"Did it take a while before I spoke with Messi again? Yes, because he thought I was part of the whole scheme. It affected my relationship with Leo a lot, but now it’s good again," Xavi said. "He knows that now, he understands it now, but there was a period when I couldn’t communicate with him. It was a shame, but it was because of those who are in charge."

Xavi added on whether Messi could still retrace his steps: "Leo Messi is never returning to Barcelona simply because Laporta doesn’t want that. It not because of La Liga or Jorge Messi is asking for money, that’s all a lie. It’s Laporta who is telling his camp that the club can’t afford him."

Laporta is currently running for a third time as Barcelona president against fellow candidates Victor Font and Marc Ciria. 

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'Let down' by backroom figures

Xavi has also claimed that Laporta misled him during his final months as Barca manager, and that the president's advisor, Alejandro Echevarría, was the one who really pulled all the strings behind the scenes at the club. "He said, and I quote: 'Xavi, I can't see the team without you, I can't see the new Camp Nou without you, I can't see the club's 125th anniversary without you as coach.' And, since I still had motivation and saw a great future for the team with the talented young generation coming up, I felt capable," Xavi said.

"I signed for Barça thanks to him, but he ended up letting me down. Why? He dismissed me as coach without telling me the truth, influenced by someone I believe is above the president, Alejandro Echevarría. In other words, it was Alejandro who dismissed me as coach. That's how this Barça works, it's practically run by Alejandro Echevarría."