The injuries of Lionel Messi’s Barcelona exit refuse to shut. In a brand new interview that has despatched shockwaves via Catalonia, former membership vice-president Jordi Mestre opened up concerning the Argentine’s strained relationship with Joan Laporta, whereas additionally revisiting Neymar’s controversial 2017 departure — and Messi’s emotional want to carry him again. The revelations paint a portrait of distrust, unhealed tensions, and choices that modified the membership’s course perpetually.
For Messi and Neymar, the Barcelona period outlined a golden age of soccer. But, for individuals who constructed that legacy, the scars of its collapse stay uncooked. Talking to Sports360, Mestre admitted that Messi’s relationship with Laporta has deteriorated even additional for the reason that Argentine’s 2021 departure. The previous vice-president — who served underneath Josep Maria Bartomeu from 2015 to 2019 — revealed that sources near the Messi household instructed him the strain has not eased over time.
“I’ve been instructed by third events that Leo Messi and his household are very, very, very indignant with Laporta. Very indignant,” Mestre confessed. “No matter we do for Leo won’t ever be sufficient. What he gave us is unimaginable, not solely on a sporting stage. Financially, the excursions with him have been one factor — with out him, fully one other.”
The Argentine’s exit in 2021 was one of many darkest moments in Barcelona’s fashionable historical past — a departure compelled by monetary chaos moderately than soccer decline. Regardless of Laporta’s public insistence that the membership would discover a strategy to renew Messi’s contract, the celebrity was instructed days earlier than the announcement that no deal may very well be registered attributable to La Liga’s monetary restrictions.
The fallout, as Mestre reveals, runs deeper than followers imagined. The nine-word declare — “Messi and his household are very indignant with Laporta” — underscores a fractured bond between the membership’s biggest ever participant and its president, one which continues to solid a shadow over any potential reconciliation.
The lacking tribute
For Mestre, what hurts most is Barcelona’s failure to correctly honor Messi’s legacy. The person who as soon as lifted 4 Champions Leagues and ten La Liga titles with the membership nonetheless has not obtained an official farewell. “I don’t know what the membership is planning, however no matter it’s, it gained’t be sufficient,” Mestre lamented. “I’d do one thing historic — for instance, naming the principle stand of the brand new Spotify Camp Nou after Leo Messi, so his identify is handed down from era to era.”
He emphasised that no participant has given Barcelona a lot, not solely in soccer phrases, however in international impression. “Sure, he earned quite a bit, however he made the membership earn much more. Even world-class gamers got here simply to play alongside Messi,” Mestre added.
The feedback come after Laporta just lately hinted at a “tribute match” for Messi, although the main points stay obscure. For followers, the thought of reconciliation nonetheless feels distant — and Mestre’s phrases solely affirm why.
Neymar and Lionel Messi taking part in for Barcelona in 2014.
Neymar: The unfinished story
Mestre additionally revisited one other wound from Barcelona’s previous — Neymar’s record-breaking transfer to PSG in 2017. The Brazilian’s $258 million exit, the most costly switch in soccer historical past, left Messi devastated. “It actually harm that Neymar didn’t work out as a result of he was extraordinary,” Mestre admitted. “He was imagined to be Leo Messi’s inheritor. Messi himself instructed me he needed him again. And I get it — having Neymar made issues simpler for him.”
The revelation confirms years of rumors that Messi personally pushed for Neymar’s return in 2019. The pair’s on-field chemistry, a part of the legendary “MSN” trio with Luis Suarez, introduced 302 targets and a 2015 Champions League crown. Their separation marked the start of the membership’s decline, as Barca struggled to interchange the steadiness and brilliance they shared.
Mestre additionally revisited his notorious declare that he was “200% positive Neymar wouldn’t go away” — a press release made days earlier than the participant joined PSG. “At the moment, not even the gamers knew he was going. They’d been at Leo Messi’s marriage ceremony, sitting on the similar desk, and Neymar stated nothing,” he defined.
