Laporta: “Yesterday I sent a message to Messi and encouraged him”

Joan Laporta made a fiery defense of Messi in the program El Món to RAC-1. “Yesterday I sent him a message and encouraged him. I told him to ignore this news”Said the former president and candidate, who did not reveal whether the Argentine answered him, although he implied that he did not (“sometimes he does it, sometimes he doesn't”). Laporta also wanted to be optimistic about the Argentine. “I have indications that he is fine in Barcelona and that he wants to stay here. What Messi needs is to trust a sports project. You want a competitive proposal from a sporting point of view. He wants Barça. It is not true that Messi commands more than the president. What he wants is to be considered so that there is a good sports project.

And Laporta insisted that Messi has not ruined Barça. “Messi generates more income than the money it costs. In our candidacy there is a study that shows that Messi generates a third of Barça's income. Messi has not ruined the club, but a board of directors that lost financial discipline since 2015 and lost the seny since it sold from Neymar in 2017 “he explained.

And then he spoke of all the intangibles that the Argentine gives: “It is not economic, it is the emotional, the sentimental. It is all that Messi has given us. Eight of every ten shirts that Barça sells are from Messi. And seeing Messi at Barça scares. emotional that gives us. With him we have reversed the title situation with other great teams. And that's thanks to Leo. Without him, he would not have earned so much. It is clear that all economic, sporting and emotional efforts must be made so that Messi continues at Barça. What we cannot do is be focused on what will escape us, but rather on what will stay.

The former president between 2003 and 2010 is clear that he will insist on Messi even if his wish is to leave: “If he says he wants to leave, I'll tell him to rethink it. And I'll tell him, depending on where he goes, that money is not a guarantee of titles. If Messi stays, you can rebuild the team with more guarantees. First you have to enter, do the audit, put the shock plan and then make an economic offer within the economic possibilities “.

On the leak of the contract, he said: “What I may suspect is irrelevant. What is clear is that there is a leak. If I win, I will try to find out where that leak came from. And I will call Thebes to ask him to see if he knows about this.. At least five people guard this contract: president, general director, sports director, legal advice and human resources “.