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Xavi reveals why Lionel Messi never returned to Barcelona after 2022 World Cup
- In an interview with La Vanguardia, Xavi Hernández said everything was in place for Messi to rejoin Barcelona after the World Cup, but Laporta pulled out.
- According to Xavi, Joan Laporta negotiated directly with Jorge Messi and Barcelona had LaLiga's financial approval before the transfer fell through.
- During the interview he accused Laporta of being a puppet to Alejandro Echevarría, and said he and Messi stopped speaking for a period; Laporta responded that Messi's camp pulled out.
- Ahead of the vote on Sunday, Laporta responded on Monday that he was 'surprised and hurt' and insisted the Messi camp pulled out, as club members vote.
- Xavi Hernández said he wants club members to know the truth and is currently out of work, possibly considering a national-team role, he added.
55 Articles
55 Articles
Former Barcelona footballer and former coach Xavi Hernández has stated in an interview with La Vanguardia newspaper that Argentine striker Lionel Messi may have returned to the club, but that the then president and current candidate for reelection, Joan Laporta, “put him back because he didn’t want a war with him.”
The situation in Barcelona is anything but stable ahead of the presidential elections. The main candidates for victory, Victor Font and Joan Laporta, were full of condemnations of each other in their last confrontation. Xavi also spoke out, accusing the current president, Laporta, of stopping the return of the great Lionel Messi to the Catalan capital. Laporta, of course, denies all the accusations, and the situation is getting worse.
"Joan Laporta Stopped It": Xavi Hernandez Makes Shocking Revelation About Lionel Messi's Barcelona Return
Former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said the club's president Joan Laporta scuppered the return of all-time great Lionel Messi in 2023 to avoid a power struggle.
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