Barca president hoped Lionel Messi 'plays for free'

To put it mildly: behind the scenes and on the pitch, FC Barcelona is not going through the best period of its existence.

And the departure of Lionel Messi for PSG this summer remains an open wound in the heart of the “Culés”.

Joan Laporta, the president of Barça, returned to the subject this Friday when sweeping the news of his club, in the program

of the Catalan radio RAC1.

"I can not get angry with someone for whom I have such great esteem," said the grieving leader, according to which "there is a disappointment on both sides", for lack of having reached an agreement with the divine Argentinian. "I had an ultimate hope that at the last minute Messi would say: 'I play for free' for Barça," added the president marri. “But you can't ask a player of Messi's level to do it. Not sure a Luuk de Jong would have agreed either, but that's another topic.

Still, the Camp Nou icon has left his adopted city for the French capital.

“They had a huge desire to stay but they [the player and his relatives] also had a lot of pressure because of the offer from PSG,” said Laporta, who would like to be able to “pay tribute” to Messi.

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