Barcelona shocked the world of football this summer following their announcement that they’d be unable to keep Lionel Messi because of their reduced wage bill. As a result, Messi had to leave the club of his life and joined Paris Saint-Germain this summer. President Joan Laporta has clarified that he has no regrets over that decision as the club comes first.
Despite the forced departure of Messi because of the financial restrictions facing the club, Barcelona are a changed team these days. Sure, the slump immediately following the Argentine’s departure saw them dropping to seventh in La Liga and losing their spot in the Champions League but the arrival of club legend Xavi as manager seems to have turned things around.
Laporta recently completed the first year of his second tenure in charge of the club and its has been a pretty difficult year. Barcelona have had to face a plethora of on-field and off-field issues including a mounting debt exceeding 1 billion euros, a sprawling wage bill as well as renegotiating sponsorships and ties.
In order to balance the books because of their enormous debt, Barcelona had to part ways with the legendary Lionel Messi who has spent his entire life with the Catalan club. The seven-time Ballon d’Or made history with Barcelona on multiple occasions but as a result of the forced departure, he ended up joining Paris Saint Germain in a shocking move.
Since then several questions have been raised regarding Laporta’s motives and whether Barcelona did enough to ensure his stay at the club. President Laporta admits that agreeing to Messi’s exit was the toughest decision he had to take but expresses no regret regarding it.
“Messi’s departure? It was the hardest decision I made. I didn’t want to make the decision. Messi is the best player in history, but that was our situation.
“I had to make a big decision about Messi, but I do not regret it. No one is above the club. With Messi, reality hit us. There’s nothing else to it.
“But Barcelona’s history continues, and with hard work and correct decisions, we can return to the path of success. That’s what we’re doing,”
Laporta told BarcaTV+.
Messi has made a record 778 appearances for Barcelona and has also scored 672 goals for them. He has led Barcelona to 10 La Liga titles as well as four Champions Leagues in a historic spell with the club.
