Barcelona president Joan Laporta admits he hoped Leo Messi would play for free this season.
Messi’s contract at the Camp Nou ended at the end of June, though negotiations continued beyond that and it had looked as though the former Barcelona captain would stay at the club, only for a dramatic late turn leaving him unable to sign a new deal ahead of leaving for PSG.
“I love him too much to be angry,” Laporta said of Messi during an interview with RAC1. “But there comes a time when you see that things just cannot happen, and there was disappointment on both sides.
“There was a desire for him to stay, but pressure because of the offer he had. He knew that he’d go to PSG if he didn’t stay.
“He’ll go down as the best player in the history of Barcelona and I want that to be preserved. Everything indicates that he had the PSG offer before leaving Barcelona. We knew he had a big offer.
“When it came to making the decision, I thought I was doing the best thing for Barcelona. I hoped there would be a change and that he’d say he’d play for free, but we cannot expect a player of his level to do that.
“We have a very good relationship. I knew that if we recovered financially we would compensate him, but we couldn’t make demands knowing the offer he had in Paris.”
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