THROWING STICKS AND STONES AT MESSI: The Argentine is headline news again in Barcelona!

Foto: Tanjug/AP

The leader of "blaugrana" was not angry with the Argentine, but he believed that the shortish striker would make such a move, considering everything that the great man had done for him and his family during his career.

- I am not angry with Messi. I know that he had a huge desire to stay, but also a lot of pressure because of the offer he had from PSG. We all knew that Messi had a very powerful offer, but I hoped until the last moment that he would stay at Barça to play for free. I would have liked that and I would have been convinced. I don't think La Liga would be a problem either. But we could not ask that from a player of such a level - said Laporta, and then explained in more detail:

- I thought so, because I know him. He joined the first team with me, I helped his family a lot. He knew that I would give him everything back when our economic situation recovered. We have no debt to him, maybe some concepts remain, but we will pay according to the agreement - Joan Laporta added.

As a reminder, Messi is 34 years old, and this summer he replaced Barcelona with PSG, after having spent his entire professional career in Catalonia.