Lionel Messi has spoken on his struggled in his debut season at Paris Saint-Germain and his "crazy" exit from Barcelona last summer.
The Argentine superstar has struggled to find his best form in Paris since his high-profile summer transfer from Barca this summer. Messi was unable to prevent PSG’s Champions League Round of 16 exit against Real Madrid – when he saw his first leg penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois. The following Ligue 1 match after that, when PSG clashed with Bordeaux, saw both Messi and his teammate Neymar booed by PSG fans.
Laporta has dropped the legendary football's name in conversation several times while Messi has failed to live up to his billing in the French capital, scoring 11 goals in 34 appearances this season. Recent reports have indicated that Messi is unhappy in Paris as he has failed to settle in the city and at the club for multiple reasons, with the potential of cutting short his two-year contract at the club. He managed 38 goals during his final term at the Camp Nou.
Recent reports have claimed that Messi has 'demanded some calm' from Laporta due to the 'tone of his statements'. The 34-year-old is believed to be annoyed by the president's references to his PSG deal, which is worth a whopping £25million per year.
Messi has no desire to return to the Camp Nou and it is claimed that the primary reason he does not wish to re-join Barca is because of Laporta. It is suggested that the player’s relationship with the president has broken down.
The 34-year-old is both the record appearance holder and record goalscorer for Barca, where he spent a sensational 16 years as the main player. Yet his relationship with Laporta appears to have been broken by the manner of his exit from the club a year ago.
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The Barca president subsequently claimed Dani Alves ‘also made a significant financial effort to return’ to the club in November, when discussing Messi – with the unsaid part of that sentence alluding to the Argentine not doing so. That was not the first time that Laporta’s remarks in the subsequent months have contradicted Messi’s version of the club not allowing him to continue.
Messi has now said of the exit on Argentine outlet TyC Sports: “It was really difficult to understand what happened, I wasn’t expecting to leave Barcelona - it was a shock”.
The Argentine added: "I had everything in Barcelona. I left when I was very young. What's more: I lived more in Barcelona than in Argentina. The truth is that I had no plans to change anything. Luckily, the children's adaptation was spectacular. For Antonella and me it was more difficult."
He accepted that while his debut campaign at the Parc des Princes was an underwhelming one that was fuelled by his “crazy” move last summer and pledged to improve for his second year in Ligue 1: “Next season will be way better for me with Paris Saint-Germain, I’m sure. It was not easy after that crazy summer.”
Speaking of his side’s Champions League exit against Real Madrid, Messi added: “The Real Madrid game happened and that killed us. To me and to the entire dressing room in general, and to all of Paris. We all had the highest expectations in the competition and the result was a blow."
Messi is currently in Argentina for international duty at the end of the season.
