Laporta Rules Out Messi Return To FC Barcelona

President Joan Laporta has closed the door to Lionel Messi potentially returning to FC Barcelona this summer.

Shortly after his current club Paris Saint Germain were knocked out of the Champions League, rumors spread that Messi had advised his father and agent Jorge to ring the Barca board and sound out a sensational second chapter at his former boyhood outfit of over 20 years.

In a wide-ranging interview with RAC1, however, Laporta poured cold water on such a development.

“There is no personal contact, I remember him with affection and I hope he does [remember me with affection] too,” Laporota began.

“For me it was not easy [when he left], I would have liked things to be different, but, as they happened, I thought that the first [most important] thing was the institution and I think we did what we had to do,” he added, as per nagivating a strict salary cap which meant Messi couldn’t be offered a new contract at Camp Nou.

“We’re not considering it,” Laporta confirmed as per a reunion.

“We’re building a new team, with young people. We did not consider it, but he deserves respect,” Laporta clarified.

“I don’t talk to him, I don’t have fluid communication [with him] like before he left,” the president went on, saying that he could understand if all wasn’t well in Paris with Messi, who was booed by home fans at the Parc des Princes recently.

“I hear comments from people close to me… it’s that Barcelona pulls a lot and when [you leave] you miss the city, [you miss] Barça – he used to live very well here. I felt worse for the personal and family issue than for the other [sporting issues], which [I] also [feel bad for]”.

With the youngster taking Messi’s coveted ’10’ shirt, Barca are now looking to the future with next generation stars such as Ansu Fati who returned to training yesterday after three months out.

Laporta does hold out hope that Messi would be there to open the new Camp Nou when it is ready, though, and the 34-year-old should have retired by then or be plying his trade in Major League Soccer in the US.