Joan Laporta admits it will be difficult to keep Lionel Messi at Barcelona.
He believes “state clubs who have their ways of skipping Financial Fair Play regulations” can make substantial offers that Barca can’t.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are two superpowers who can end up signing the Argentine, buoyed by their backing from Etihad and Qatar airways respectively.
This is not the first time Laporta has called PSG a “state club” who “skipped the rules”, and now he has once again reiterated this line. As the battle for Camp Nou’s presidential election runs on, there are plenty of candidates making public claims about player transfers.
Over the future of Messi, Laporta said, in quotes carried by Marca: “I remain with my will to convince Leo to continue at the club. The competitors are state clubs who have their ways of skipping Financial Fair Play regulations. He will receive great offers and it is difficult to compete with those, but I will try to convince him.”
Messi’s contract is set to last till the end of this season. He was already ready to leave last summer but his exit was halted by the Barca and La Liga hierarchy.
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