World Cup winner Lionel Messi's contract runs out with PSG this summer; Barcelona are in talks with LaLiga regarding their spending limits for next season; the club were charged by the league for breaching their limit with three players during the 2021-22 season
Tuesday 18 April 2023 14:49, UK
Barcelona are stepping up their efforts to make Lionel Messi a contract offer this summer by talking to LaLiga about generating more flexibility in their Financial Fair Play ratio.
The club are in talks with the league regarding their spending limits for next season, with the idea firmly in mind to try and bring Messi back to the Nou Camp for what is likely to be his last year in European football.
However, it will not be easy with Barca having been charged by LaLiga for breaching their limit with three players during the 2021-22 season, including ex-Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and were forced to re-register Gavi as an academy player.
The Christensen fine has been successfully appealed but Barca remain at the very limit of what they can spend and will almost certainly have to move players on to accommodate a Messi return.
Nevertheless, the club are working very much with that intention in mind and they have been buoyed by the recent lack of progress in Messi's contract talks with Paris Saint-Germain.
Sky Sports News reported earlier this month how Messi was keen to understand PSG's sporting plans for next season before progressing with negotiations.
Since then, an offer has been lodged for the Argentina international to play for Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal which sources claim is worth £400m for just one year.
No other club in the world could get near that offer such is the determination of Saudi Arabian football to have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both playing in their league for a season. Neither PSG or Barcelona will let themselves be distracted by it in their own efforts to secure Messi.
PSG still want the forward to stay and the player's priority has been the same since both sides agreed to work towards a renewal around the time of the World Cup in Qatar.
However, the likelihood that he will go elsewhere has increased recently and encouraged his boyhood team in Catalonia.
