Lionel Messi’s exit from FC Barcelona was ‘the right decision,’ says president Joan Laporta

Lionel Messi‘s controversial departure from FC Barcelona resurfaced as one of the most talked-about topics in Spain during the presidential elections in which Joan Laporta was comfortably returned to power. Now set to begin his third term at the helm of the club, Laporta addressed the subject once again, this time asserting that Messi’s exit was ultimately “the right decision.”

Ahead of the vote, former coach Xavi Hernandez sent shockwaves through the Barcelona world by claiming that Laporta bore primary responsibility not only for his own departure but also for the failure to bring Messi back in 2023. Despite the controversy, Laporta won convincingly on March 15 with 68.8% of the vote.

In an interview with El Pais, Laporta was asked whether Messi’s abrupt departure would leave a mark on his legacy, and the Barcelona president was direct: “It is something I will always carry with me. I also like to think that it was with me as president that we put Leo in the first team. And for many years, he was the best player in the world with me as president. Later, I had to make a decision, and I believe I got it right.“

Despite the circumstances surrounding Messi’s exit, Laporta argued that subsequent events have vindicated him. “I let the results speak for themselves. We were able to recover the club’s economy, we built a competitive team, and it was time for a generational handover. Leo was at the end of his career, and we had to build a new team. Would I have liked to build the new team with Leo helping? Yes. We tried that, but it wasn’t meant to be,” he concluded.

The backdrop to Messi’s departure was laid bare in 2021 when El Mundo revealed that his final Barcelona contract saw the Argentine legend earn a staggering 555 million euros gross over four years. Faced with that financial burden and unable to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, Laporta maintained that he “did what he had to do.“

Messi’s silence and a potential tribute at Barcelona

While Xavi, one of Messi’s closest friends and former teammates at Barcelona, chose to make pointed remarks about Laporta, and while Laporta dismissed those claims in turn, the Inter Miami star has stayed out of the dispute entirely. Messi has not made his position public, though reports suggest his relationship with the re-elected Barcelona president remains strained.

Laporta, for his part, has been working to rebuild that relationship, particularly given his close ties to Jorge Messi ahead of the 2021 election. While a return as a player is firmly off the table, the president is pushing for a statue outside Camp Nou and a tribute match in Messi’s honor.

When asked whether the statue proposal could serve as a bridge to reuniting with Messi, Laporta was optimistic: “He is a generational benchmark player: Kubala, Cruyff, and Messi. He must have a statue and also a tribute match. Barca is his home. The relationship of the future and the immediate present will be whatever Leo wants and whatever Barca wants. At some point, our interests will converge again.“