Messi could be unplayable at Barcelona – Thierry Henry

Robin Bairner

• 2 Apr 2023 22:05 BST
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi has been told to leave PSG in the summer and finish his career at Barcelona, where he could be “unplayable”, by Thierry Henry.

Speaking in his capacity as a pundit for Amazon Prime’s Ligue 1 coverage in France, Henry, who turned out for Barca alongside Messi from 2007-10, has told the Argentine to head back to LaLiga to finish his career.

Messi is out of contract with PSG in the summer at which point he will become a free agent.

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Barcelona have admitted that they want their record scorer to return to the club but their financial problems could make that difficult. Meanwhile, there is interest from MLS and Saudi Arabia, while PSG have also made the 35-year-old an offer to remain at the club.

At 35, Henry says that Messi’s Argentina form is proof that he remains one of the outstanding players in the world – if his team-mates are willing to do everything for him.

“It’s not easy to lead the orchestra with three conductors,” Henry told Prime Video of Messi’s situation at PSG, where he shares the spotlight with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, and contrasting that to how he is treated by Argentina.

“He's the boss. You see how the players look at him. They could die for him. When Leo feels that, he's unplayable. Here it's different.”

MORE: PSG's €100m response to Messi leaving for Barca

I’d like to see Messi at Barcelona – Henry

Henry has counselled Leo to go back to Barcelona.

“I would like to see him finish his career at Barcelona,” the France and Arsenal legend said. “The way he left the club, I didn’t like that too much.

“I’m not saying he has to go or not go, there are other people to handle that.

“He didn’t leave Barcelona as he should have and that’s something that’s hard to digest. I think he feels the same way after he cried during his leaving press conference.”

Henry does not appreciate that Messi is whistled by the PSG supporters, with scattered boos greeting his name prior to Sunday’s Ligue 1 clash against Lyon.

“The whistles don’t help,” he said. “He still has 13 goals and 13 assists. We’re talking about the current Ballon d’Or winner.”

PSG suffered a 1-0 home loss to Lyon on Sunday, with Messi well contained as their lead at the top of Ligue 1 was trimmed to six points.