"I tried to sign him for Barcelona. I spoke for five months, everything was ready, but the current club president said no." That's Xavi, in an interview with Romario, putting the blame for one of football's great what-ifs squarely on Joan Laporta's desk — without ever actually saying his name.
Five months. Everything ready. Then a no from the top. Whatever the internal reasoning was, the result is that Messi spent his post-PSG years in MLS rather than closing his career at the club that made him. Barcelona's front office will have to live with that one.
The exit, the rebuild, and what he left behind
Xavi also opened up about his own departure from the Camp Nou dugout. "I felt I was going to continue, that was agreed with the president, but there was a personal issue with someone at the club that prevented it." Again, no names. Again, the implication is obvious enough.
He's not bitter about the legacy, though. The club was, in his words, "in the worst moment in its history" when he took over. Two trophies later, the squad that Hansi Flick is now running to the top of Europe is largely the one Xavi built and trusted — Pedri, Yamal, Raphinha, players he backed when others weren't sure. That's a real record, whatever the ending looked like.
On Raphinha specifically: "I signed him. I pushed the club to sign him. I gave him confidence." The Brazilian has become one of the best players in Europe this season. Credit where it's due.
Messi, Yamal, and the hierarchy of greatness
Xavi didn't hold back on the big comparisons either. On Messi: "There will be no one better than him." On the 2010 Ballon d'Or, which many felt Xavi deserved after Spain's World Cup win: "I don't feel like I was robbed of one." That's either genuine humility or the kind of perspective that only comes after you've won everything else.
On Lamine Yamal, he was equally direct. "He is a chosen one. He can be the best in the world. He is already among them." High praise, but not exactly reckless given what the teenager has produced this season. Yamal's odds of winning a Ballon d'Or before he turns 25 are shortening by the month.
- Players Xavi tried to bring back to Barcelona: Messi, Neymar, Dani Alves, Pedro
- Messi return blocked by the club president; Neymar blocked by Financial Fair Play
- Midfielders Xavi rates: Pedri, Vitinha, Mac Allister, Frenkie de Jong
- World Cup favourites according to Xavi: Brazil, Spain, Argentina, France, Portugal
As for his next job — he's open to anything, including Brazil. "I am open to a beautiful project where you can win." A man who won La Liga, the Champions League four times, and the World Cup can afford to wait for the right door to open.
