Barcelona manager Xavi has promised Lionel Messi the doors at the Nou Camp will always be open for the Argentina star to make a sensational return to the club he left for Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Messi has endured a difficult first campaign at PSG – where he earns a staggering £35 million a season.
This was after stunning the football world by leaving the cash-strapped Spanish giants.
The 34-year-old received a wave of criticism following PSG’s Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid and was booed by angry fans during their league match against Bordeaux last Sunday.
His troubles at PSG have sparked rumours he could rejoin his boyhood club, where he won a record 35 trophies.
Xavi, who played nearly 400 matches with Messi during a period when Barcelona dominated European football, said his former teammate would always be welcome back to the Nou Camp.
“Messi has earned having the doors open to Barca,” Xavi said. “As long as I’m the coach here, if he wants to come every day to watch training or talk to the coach, what he’s given us is priceless, he’s the best player in history.
“He deserves a big tribute from the club. But today he has a contract with PSG, I think he signed for two years.”
Messi said he is determined to stay at PSG beyond this season and establish himself as a super-star in France despite his struggles during his first season there.
He wants to lift the Ligue 1 trophy and still dreams of winning the Champions League with the Parisian club.
There has been no contact between him or his entourage with Barcelona since he left them last summer, despite the rumours of a return to Catalonia.
But some of Messi’s other former Barcelona teammates – including Dani Alves – have claimed the Argentinian should come home to the Nou Camp.
Messi won 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues at Barcelona and has also claimed dozens of individual accolades in his hugely successful career, including winning the Ballon d’Or seven times.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
