Xavi: Joan Laporta blocked Lionel Messi return to Barcelona, feared power struggle

Former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández says Joan Laporta blocked Lionel Messi's return to the club because he feared a power struggle with the Inter Miami forward.

In an explosive interview with La Vanguardia in which he accused Barça president Laporta of lying several times, Xavi claimed everything was in place for Messi to re-join the Catalan club from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.

"The president is lying about what happened with Messi," Xavi said. "Leo was signed. In January of 2023, after he had won the World Cup, I spoke to him and he told me he was excited to learn.

"We spoke until March and I told him: 'Once you give me the OK, I will tell the president because it works perfectly on a football level.'

"The president negotiated the contract with Leo's dad [Jorge] and we had the green light from LaLiga financially, but it's the president who pulled out.

"He told me that if Messi came back, he would make a war [against Laporta]. My interest is in telling the truth. Leo didn't come because the president didn't want him.

"It's a lie to say it's because LaLiga [wouldn't allow it financially] or Jorge Messi asked for more money. It was the president and his people who said they could not allow it, that he [Laporta] has all the power and that Messi would handle that badly."

Xavi added that Laporta's actions led to him and Messi not speaking for a period of time, although he says the two are now back on talking terms.

Laporta responded on Monday, saying that he was "surprised and hurt" by Xavi's claims, but insisting that it was the Messi camp who pulled out of a 2023 return and suggesting the former Spain international was speaking out because he fired him in 2024.

"When I see what Xavi has said, I think about [current Barça coach] Hansi Flick," Laporta told RAC1. "Being Barça president is a tough job and you have to make difficult decisions. I did what I had to do.

"With Xavi, I saw that we were going to lose and that with Flick we were going to win. I understand that he's hurting. With the same players, Flick is winning.

"As for Messi, this is how it was: In 2023, I was told Messi wanted to return and I sent the contract to Jorge Messi, who later came to my house and told me that there would be too much pressure back here and that they would prefer to go to Miami."

Xavi's comments come at the start of a week in which Laporta hopes to be re-elected as Barça president, with club members going to the polls on Sunday to choose between him or Victor Font.

During the interview, Xavi also accused Laporta of being a puppet to his former brother-in-law, Alejandro Echevarría -- who he says really yields the power at Barça -- and of lying to him and the squad relating to issues surrounding his exit as coach two years ago.

"The president said I wanted to get rid of 10 players and it's not true," Xavi said. "I want the club's members to know the truth about what happens inside the club.

"Laporta convinced me to stay when I had said in January I was leaving. He told me, textually: 'I don't see the team without you.'

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"The president got rid of me without telling me the truth, conditioned by a person who is above him, who is Alejando Echevarría. That's to say, who really got rid of me as coach is Alejandro."

Xavi has been out of work since leaving Barça. He says he has had offers to return to coaching, but is enjoying time with his family at the moment, adding that he could be tempted by taking on a national team job in the future rather than returning to the club game.

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