While some can disagree with his methods and the way in which Joan Laporta has run Barcelona, there is one blot on his copy book which dominates all others. Something even he cannot reconcile.
The departure of Lionel Messi was as heart-wrenching as it was wrong, with Barcelona offering a contract to the Argentine, only to then tell him the deal could not be done at the last moment.
Given Messi is Barcelona’s and arguably the world’s greatest ever, the pain associated with that moment still runs deep within Barcelonismo.
Speaking ahead of Barcelona’s El Clasico victory over Real Madrid, President Joan Laporta, who was responsible for the ordeal, said he wanted Messi to return.
“I think, I hope and I wish that the Lionel Messi chapter at Barcelona has not finished.”
“I think it is our responsibility to ensure that chapter, which is still open and has not closed, has a moment in which we can do as should have been done. And that it has a much more glorious ending than the one it had.”
The comments were made to ESPN, in an interview to Sport. Laporta went on to express his gratitude to Messi.
“Morally, as President of Barcelona I think I did what I had to do, but as President of Barca and personally I believe that I am in debt to him.”
While few would doubt that Laporta regrets the manner in which it played out, it is hard to imagine exactly how he fits back in at Barcelona at this point. The club is rebuilding for the future and attempting to return to the glory Messi first brought them, while Messi looks to be entering the final stages of his European career at Paris Saint-Germain.
