Messi and Barcelona camps meet for transfer talks

FT Desk

• 5 Nov 2022 17:08 GMT
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi's return to Barcelona could be drawing closer after his brother and agent Rodrigo was spotted in a Catalan restaurant with Xavi's equivalent Alex Hernandez and a third party…

Messi left Barcelona under a cloud last summer, the Blaugrana withdrawing a new contract offer at the last as they laboured with a €1.35 billion debt. A tearful Messi then departed for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.

After a difficult first season in Paris, Messi had appeared to be settling alongside his former Barca teammate Neymar - and Clasico rival of old Sergio Ramos - and this term has contributed 12 goals and 14 assists from just 18 games in all competitions.

READ: Lionel Messi at PSG: Goals, assists, results & fixtures in 2022-23

But Messi's contract at the Parc des Princes expires in the summer, and he is yet to renew despite PSG Football Advisor Luis Campos' best attempts.

If there was already unease in Paris about the prospect of keeping Messi beyond this season, he has now reportedly asked to be excluded from the club's trip to Lorient in Ligue 1 on Sunday, with the upcoming winter World Cup in Qatar with Argentina his priority.

If Messi is willing to put his national team ahead of his current employers, it stands to reason he might feel the same way about the Catalan giants, whom he spent 21 years with, scoring 672 goals and winning 34 major honours with along the way.

READ: Inter Miami vs Barcelona for Messi: The state of play

And now representatives of Messi and his former Barca teammate, now manager, Xavi, have been spotted with an agent in a seafood restaurant in Barcelona.

Agents spotted

"This week a meal took place in a restaurant, Botafumeiro," Joan Fontes - a Catalan radio journalist - posted to his Twitter account. "It was between Alex Hernandez and Rodrigo Messi, brothers of Xavi and Leo Messi, in the presence of a third person, most likely Fernando Solanas, a specialist in contractual and strategic brand issues."

Messi could still extend with PSG, whilst there is an offer on the table from David Beckham's Inter Miami, but it appears Barca are keen to steal a march on the competition as they look to bring their talisman home.