FC Barcelona’s ‘Operation Messi Back Home’ – Latest Update and Rumors

Operation Messi Back Home has officially started at FC Barcelona!

As reported by L’Equipe, the Catalan club now want to pull out all the stops to bring Lionel Messi back to Barcelona.

Watch out for Draxlers! He must have imagined the championship celebration differently…

Accordingly, the Argentine would sign with USA club Inter Miami and then be loaned out to Barça. The loan period would be between six and 18 months.

As “L’Equipe” further reports, this model should be a serious option for Messi. He could continue to play at the highest level in Europe until the 2024 Copa America before retiring in Miami.

According to Spanish media reports, Messi wants to decide his future in the coming days. His contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires at the end of June. Theoretically, he has the opportunity to extend the club for another season. But that is said to be impossible for Messi.

However, for Messi to play for Barça, the club would have to do a few things beforehand. Due to the salary cap in the Spanish La Liga, Barça cannot simply register the attacking player, but first have to significantly dilute the squad. However, club president Joan Laporta said a few days ago on “TV3”: “We will do everything we can to bring Leo Messi back to Barcelona.”

There have also been rumors for weeks that the club would like to lure Al-Hilal Messi to Saudi Arabia. The Spanish broadcaster “Cadena Ser” also reported that the Saudis had increased their offer for Messi from the previous 400 million euros. Accordingly, they are now offering the insane sum of 500 million euros as an annual salary!

For comparison: Cristiano Ronaldo (37), who also plays in Saudi Arabia, collects “only” 200 million euros a year from his club Al-Nassr. Of course, neither Inter Miami nor Barça can offer this amount.

Messi is expected to announce his decision after PSG’s final game of the season. The last matchday of Ligue 1 is scheduled for June 3rd.

Let’s see if Messi will really accept the crazy Barca plan after that and return to the Spain club via the USA detour.