Posted on December 3, 2021 at 10:45 am by AM While the departure of Joan Laporta recently claimed that he regretted that Lionel Messi did not stay to play for free at Barça, the president of the club blaugrana has made things clear. “J 'hoped that at the last minute, Lionel Messi would say he was going to play for free. »With this sentence pronounced at the microphone of RAC1 in October, Joan Laporta hit the headlines as he seemed to blame the Argentine star after his departure from FC Barcelona . Lionel Messi did not hesitate to restore the truth. In an interview with Sport, the new PSG playerassured indeed “nobody asked me to play for free but at the same time, it seems to me that the words which the president pronounced are irrelevant”, after having recalled that he had done everything to stay at Barça , even agreeing to lower his salary by 40%. Faced with the controversy aroused by his remarks, Joan Laporta therefore decided to put things straight and to confirm the words of Lionel Messi . “I want this to be clear. In a radio show, I was told: “If Messi had stayed for free?” For free … I don't know if it would have been possible, but I understand that it could have been. And for a while I was like, well, it could have been. But I never asked Messi to play for free and in that Messi is right because other than that he is the best player in the world. We knew he had a big offer and that was nonsense. Anyway, it had to come from him, not from me. I never said that and a controversy was born which is distorted at the source ”, he confides at the microphone of Els Matins on TV3. 
“I never asked Messi to play for free”
Mercato | Mercato – PSG: Laporta settles his accounts with Messi!
