Barcelona President Joan Laporta Makes Honest Admission About Signing Lionel Messi

• Joan Laporta says he hoped Argentine Lionel Messi would have agreed to play for Barcelona for free
• Messi, 34, signed a two year deal with PSG in August after a salary cap disabled Barcelona from renewing his contract
• Had Messi agreed to play for the club without a salary, the club would have been able to re-sign him

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has sensationally claimed he had hoped Lionel Messi would have eventually settled to play for the club for free in the wake of the Argentine’s sensational exit.

Messi in August ended a 21-year old association with Barcelona as he completed a move to Paris SaintGermain on a free transfer upon expiry of his contract at Barcelona.

It was reported that Barcelona were enduring a difficult financial spell and a La Liga salary cap disabled the club from renewing Messi’s contract.

While speaking to radio station RAC1, Laporta opened up on the transfer

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"He wanted to stay but they also had a lot of pressure because of the offer they had.” Laporta said as quoted by Sky Sports.

"I hoped Messi would do a U-turn and he would say he would play for free,” he went on.

"I would have liked that and I would have been all for it. It is my understanding La Liga would have accepted it. But we cannot ask a player of Messi's stature to do this."

Laporta also broke down what he meant in August when he suggested the club would have endured 50 years of misery if they tried to force a move that would have seen Messi stay.

He said La Liga was willing to allow the club to re-sign Messi but they would have to agree a deal with investment fund CVC Capital, which would have seen the club give up part of its commercial rights for the next 50 years.

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"We do not need more debt," said Laporta. "I understand La Liga clubs are suffering. We have not ruled ourselves out of this operation but they have to change it. They are trying to reformulate the deal."

Barcelona to play away from Nou Camp

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Spanish club Barcelona are preparing to revamp the Camp Nou by increasing the capacity with an additional 11,000 seat to make it 110,000.

Reports from Spain have it that work could commence as soon as next year, which means the Catalan giants will have to play elsewhere for a season.

This was confirmed by club president Joan Laporta who stated that work will commence in 2022 and could last for about for years.

Aside adding more seats to the stadium, the revamp will also include refurbishments to the ground’s infrastructure as well as other areas including the museum and club shop.

Barcelona are currently in deep financial crisis and to kick start this project, they will need to secure a large loan to fund the work.