With the upcoming Barcelona presidential election, drama has taken a new turn as one of the two candidates running against incumbent Joan Laporta has stirred fresh controversy. Victor Font has urged Lionel Messi to respond to recent comments by former Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez.
Xavi, a former teammate of Messi, revealed that Messi was set to return to Barcelona in 2023, but Laporta blocked the move. Since then, Laporta has claimed that Messi wanted to stay out of the spotlight and signed with Inter Miami.
But Font feels that Messi did want to return to Spain, but Laporta blocked the move. “I don’t think Messi will say anything between now and Sunday, but I hope he does.”
“I hope he tells the truth so that the socis don’t go to the polls misled by Laporta and blinded by the smoke screen of hope generated by Hansi Flick and the young players.”
In his comments, Xavi also suggested that Laporta wanted to avoid any potential clashes with Messi, which led to him blocking the move.
“Leo was signed, in January 2023 after winning the World Cup, we got in touch and he told me he wanted to come back,” Xavi said.
“We had the green light from La Liga (financially), but it was the president who threw it away.
“Laporta told me, word for word, that if Leo came back he was going to wage war against him and that he couldn’t allow that. And then suddenly Leo stopped answering my calls because he’d been told that it couldn’t be done,” he added.
Meanwhile, Laporta has suggested that Xavi’s comments stem from his bitterness regarding his departure. At a presidential debate, he said, “With Xavi I saw we were going to lose and with (current coach Hansi) Flick that we will win.”
“I understand that (Xavi) is hurt – with the same players Flick wins.”
