Messi did not want to take risks and ruled out returning to Barcelona. He never finished trusting the margin of maneuver that Laporta had, or if you want how far the Barça president was willing or could go, after he was forced to leave the Camp Nou by force in 2021. Although from the offices of the club it is insisted that there was a formal contract proposal, the player took it as a wet letter before the multitude of conditions that had to be given for him to return to Barça to the enthusiasm also of the League.
Surely the striker's conversations with Xavi were more enjoyable and maybe even at some point he was dressed in Barça in Montjuïc. The football challenge, however, also had its risks because the return of the 10 meant the transfer of some players and the change of certain functions in the dressing room and on the field after two years in which leaders such as Araujo have emerged. Messi did not want to feel guilty about the inventory of casualties nor a favored in the game map arranged by Xavi.
There will be Barça fans who may think that for once that Argentine who stopped being a cold chest after winning the World Cup had no courage, stopped being competitive and gave up early with his bet on Inter Miami. MLS still sounds like retirement for those who consume European soccer and preferably the Champions League. Even those who suspect that the 10 had long negotiated his departure for America and that sooner later he would convince Busquets to accompany him now or in 2024 may be right.
Messi would have consistently acted as a veteran rather than a professional who still has debts to meet in Europe. The family would already have more weight than the team for the 10. There are several factors to consider, therefore, that his decision was conservative and premature because he did not want to wait for the Barça money and the League tab. Messi, however, played much more than Barça. He did not want to participate in the bet after the rectors of the club played it in 2021 and perhaps also for fear of becoming the shield of Barça.
The pressure was maximum and to risk you need arguments, certainties and solvent companions, factors that do not occur today in a club that has not improved economically since many of its sacred cows led by Messi himself have departed. The player did not want to be the last of the levers that were activated precisely since he was rejected at the Camp Nou and that today allow, for example, that Lewandowski can charge more than double the amount offered to Busquets.
So Messi's justification for not returning seems as reasonable as Barca's disappointment at not getting him back after the team has won La Liga. Both parties have staged the intentions that best suited them to look good and denounce at the same time the real situation of Barcelona. The reunion was impossible no matter how desired it was, as has been demonstrated while waiting for a tribute match that goes around like the pending appointment so that Barça can thank Messi.
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