Lionel Messi ‘Will Do The Impossible To Return To FC Barcelona’

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has spoken on his former player Lionel Messi’s future in an interview with ESPN predicting that the Argentine “will do the impossible to return to FC Barcelona”.

Messi’s Paris Saint Germain contract expires on June 30, and the forward has been linked with a return to former club Barca. According to El Chiringuito in Spain and the AFP in France, however, the 35-year-old has already accepted a mouthwatering offer from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia which would put him in line to top Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes.

Few are better seated to talk about the World Cup winner than Guardiola considering their time together at Camp Nou from the late 2000s to early 2010s. Back then, the Catalan managed arguably the greatest club team ever seen which won two Champions League crowns among a litany of other trophies.

In an interview broadcast the day after his current side’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in the mentioned competition’s semi-final first leg, Guardiola predicted that Messi will “do the impossible to return to Barcelona” amid their difficulties balancing Financial Fair Play limits plus rumored, much bigger salaries offered elsewhere.

As a card-carrying member of the club who still has two seats at Camp Nou, Guardiola said that he hoped Messi will one day “get the send off he deserves” in Europe’s biggest stadium.

He also called Messi “the greatest of player of all time”, and noted that Barcelona’s “boom” over the last few decades “would not have been possible without him”.

Guardiola stressed that he wasn’t talking “about numbers”, but also the “beauty” of their football, and “aesthetics”. “Effectiveness, everything,” he added.

As for Messi’s tearful exit on a free transfer in 2021, when Barca once again struggled to jump Financial Fair Play hurdles, Guardiola said: “No one would have thought that it would end that way”.

“I know that President [Joan] Laporta has great esteem for Leo and since he left he referred to the fact that he deserves to have a goodbye as the great personality that he is.

“Leo helped our club, Barcelona, to be much bigger than when he arrived. When a person is that big, he deserves to be sent-off well.”

Guardiola revealed how he hopes that the day will come when he is in “my place” at Camp Nou and “can get up and applaud him and send him off as Leo deserves.”

“I know that Joan is going to try and Leo too, and that he and his family are going to receive the love that all of us who are Barcelona fans have for all the gratitude and respect that he has given to the club”, Guardiola guaranteed.

These scenes could still play out even if Messi retired elsewhere and was thrown a testimonial.

To be witnessed with him a Barca player at Camp Nou once more, however, the club will need to have their viability plan accepted by La Liga and then get Messi to sign on the dotted line for at least two years as the Blaugrana’s usual home is being renovated in 2023/2024.