Speaking in an interview with SPORT, former Barcelona midfielder and legend Andres Iniesta has claimed that it would be ‘spectacular’ to see Lionel Messi return to the club for a final goodbye. However, he insisted that such a move will be difficult in the current circumstances.
Messi will become a free agent in the summer, with his current contract with Paris Saint-Germain expiring at the end of the ongoing season.
It has led to speculations that Barcelona might make an attempt to re-sign the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner on a Bosman deal and bring him back to the club for one last dance following the manner of his shock exit in the summer of last year.
And, Iniesta believes that a comeback would be great given everything Messi has done for Barcelona and the club’s history but admitted that a move would be difficult to pull off.
“I don’t know how these situations are handled. Leo is a PSG player and obviously, as a Culé and seeing what he has been for Barça, for its history, I wish that at some point in these years if the occasion arose it would be spectacular if he could say goodbye.
He deserves it, but I understand that it will not be easy to make it possible,” said the Barcelona legend.
Iniesta also commented on Messi’s World Cup triumph with Argentina, saying: “I think both Argentina and Leo deserved it for the competition they have done. We may like one thing or another, but it is totally deserved.
“From that point on, whether Leo had a World Cup or not, I don’t know if on an external level of opinions it changes or not, but he has achieved it and that feeling is wonderful. That moment, of lifting the Cup, of feeling that Argentina as a country has won it again.”
Messi’s return to Barcelona next summer is very complicated at this point, first because he is still very upset with Joan Laporta over how his exit was handled last year. On top of that, the Blaugrana are in a difficult situation financially and need to reduce their wage bill.
So, as things stand, a comeback to Camp Nou next summer looks unlikely, with a stay at PSG the likeliest possibility.