Barcelona Presidential Hopeful Lashes Out At PSG Pursuit Of Lionel Messi

Barcelona FC presidential hopeful Joan Laporta is pretty unhappy at how Paris Saint-Germain in its pursuit of Lionel Messi.

PSG looms as a potential next stop for the Argentine striker, and its sporting director Leonardo is not hiding that fact.

However, these claims did not sit well with Laporta who deemed Leonardo’s statement as disrespectful.

For him, Parc des Princes overstepped its boundaries in its pursuit of Messi and plans to take legal steps against the club if he is re-elected to a second term, Marca reported.

"PSG allow themselves to publicly say that they want to sign Messi. Barcelona cannot allow this, because it is disrespectful,” Laporta said to the media. "And even more so coming from a club/state that breaks the rules. We also have to work with UEFA and FIFA on this."

Messi elected to see out the final year of his deal with Barca, but things could be different after this season. The club could still convince him to stay and the only way to do that is to make sure that the club offers the Argentine player a good proposal that he would accept.

"The club must be capable of making a good proposal that Messi is willing to accept. That depends on the club,” he stated.

But right now, Barcelona is in an unusual state. Before the team can address the Messi situation, Blaugranes needs to fill up its presidential vacancy.

"I would understand any answer [from Messi], but he needs to know what the proposal is; that requires urgency. It is getting more complicated all the time to make a convincing proposal. He's free to negotiate with other clubs now and Barca is still without a president,” Laporta stressed.

Any club keen on getting Messi will need to be financially ready. For PSG, it would take a huge financial toll considering they already have Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the mix whose contracts expire in 2022.

Leonardo is confident that Mbappe and Neymar will stay on with Les Parisiens. Adding Messi would be something even if it requires big money involved.

But for now, Barca remains in the race and has a chance to convince the six-time Ballon d’Or winner to stay on at Camp Nou.