The last year of Lionel Messi’s deal with Paris Saint-Germain is approaching. Could it only serve as a stopgap for a player who intended to sign with just one club before Barcelona’s finances collapsed?
Lionel Messi has long been said to want to end his career at either Major League Soccer or with his old soccer team Newell’s Old Boys.
However, a return to the Camp Nou is being linked to the Argentine superstar who turned 35 last month.
According to reports, Xavi wants the best player in the world to return to Barcelona because he thinks the Ballon d’Or winner still has plenty of life in his frequently fouled legs.
Due to a variety of logistical considerations, Messi’s PSG contract expires at the end of June 2023, but both the player and Les Parisiens are committed to another season in Ligue 1 and the UEFA Champions League.
However, Messi’s triumphant return to Barcelona the following summer to guide and (further) instruct a group of young Catalan players in his ways would be everything purists hold dear about the game.
Under 20 years old, Pedri, Gavi, and Ansu Fati all have ludicrously promising futures. Messi rotating into a front three with Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres, and Fati would be electrifying, even at his age of 36 at the start of the 2023–24 season.
Naturally, this would also imply that Xavi’s 2022–23 season went well enough to keep the famous midfielder in charge and motivated to bring Messi into the fold.
