Although Barcelona club president Joan Laporta's press conference was mainly devoted to discussing the financial situation of the team, Laporta devoted part of it to explaining the reasons for the departure of Argentine star Lionel Messi.
Laporta, who spoke for the first time since Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain, tried to focus on the club's future and stressed the need to turn the page.
Laporta admitted that "the successful relationship that lasted for several years between Barca and the player eventually deteriorated."
He explained that Leo's presentation in Saint-Germain seemed strange, "Like all Barcelona fans, I would have preferred to see him in Barcelona, but we made the right decision because Barcelona is above everything.. I wish him all the best, I would love to see him happy, he deserves it. Now maybe We are competitors, and as competitors we have to deal with it."
Laporta pointed out that "Messi's statements are largely in line with what we have explained. The statements from both sides were largely identical."
He revealed, "We thought that we could keep Messi, because we only know the numbers from the previous administration. We presented La Liga with losses of 89 million euros, which allowed us to do our best."
“When the League gave us expectations about our debts, we were optimistic about the possibility of completing the deal, but later it turned out that we could not end it, even though we had reached an agreement with Messi on all the terms of the contract extension.”
"Leo also had time to think, but we saw that he could not extend the contract, despite the fact that the player made a lot of efforts and accepted discounts to fit his contract with the maximum salary. But when we saw the scale of the (financial) disaster, we were sure that we could not complete agreement with him.
He pointed out that "the two sides would have liked a different ending, but we have to accept that the idea we had in the beginning cannot be achieved. One of the most beautiful stories in football ended, which usually does not last long .. I prefer to remember the good moments rather than the bad ones. We We are excited about the team and Leo looks happy in Paris."
Laporta said, "The Camp Nou fans did not boo Messi, what happened is that the fans defend Barcelona and know that the team is in dire need of unity .. As for the hugs, in the negotiations that the two parties hoped to be fruitful, it did not work out. There is disappointment Reciprocal. Personally, I have the same esteem for Messi as I used to, it is a pity that the story did not end the way we wanted."