FC Barcelona Will Formerly Invite Messi Back To Club, Reports Relevo

FC Barcelona will invite its greatest ever player Lionel Messi back to the club through a letter according to Relevo and its well-informed columnist Miguel Rico, who cited anonymous sources.

Messi bid a tearful farewell to Barca in the summer of 2021, when current president Joan Laporta failed to deliver on an election promise made earlier that year to renew the Argentine.

Barca's economic crisis at the turn of the decade played a heavy role in the Catalans being unable to navigate Financial Fair Play limits and offer the eight-time Ballon d'Or fresh terms as his contract wound down.

This led to him fleeing to Paris Saint-Germain for nothing. And when he once more became a free agent in 2023, Messi decided not to wait for Barca to get its house in order as per a potential return and instead opted to join Inter Miami in the MLS where he has been ever since.

Given he turns 38 next June, it is unlikely we will ever see Messi donning Blaugrana again in a professional capacity.

But that doesn't mean Laporta and the club don't wish to mend fences with its former number 10, who they will invite to a gala that marks the club's 125th anniversary on November 29.

It was hoped that the event could take part in the newly-refurbished Camp Nou, but that possibility was ruled out months ago given that the stadium won't be ready until what appears to be January at the earliest after being pushed back once more from December.

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Messi being involved in events related to the anniversary would give them a high profile and also perhaps go some way to healing old wounds.

According to Rico, the idea is to send Messi an invite by letter to the gala as will be done with a number of former Blaugrana legends.

If he and others can't attend, however, they will be asked to record a video message to be shown which you'd think that Messi would be open to indulging Laporta and Co. with.

Once he has retired, Messi could also take up a behind-the-scenes role at Camp Nou in the vein of a sporting director or some such. At present, that particular role is held by his ex-teammate Deco.