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Barcelona presidential candidate Joan Laporta has threatened to report Paris Saint-Germain to FIFA over their ‘disrespectful manner’ of pursuing Lionel Messi.
The Barcelona icon is available on a free transfer in the summer and has been publicly courted by PSG, who are desperately trying to convince him to move to the French capital.
Both PSG sporting director Leonardo and manager Mauricio Pochettino have recently expressed their interest in signing Messi with the forward’s future still up in the air.
However, Barcelona have been left angered by the way PSG have conducted themselves in their bid to sign Messi – and Laporta has insisted they’ve overstepped the mark and could take legal action against them.
Laporta, who did admit that time is running out to ‘make a good proposal’ for Messi to renew his contract, said: ‘I would understand any answer [from Messi], but he needs to know what the proposal is; that requires urgency. It is more complicated all the time to make a convincing proposal.
‘He’s free to negotiate with other clubs now and Barca are still without a president.
‘It is disrespectful to Barca that clubs like PSG publicly say they are going to sign Messi. This coming from a club-state that have bypassed the rules. We cannot allow clubs and states the luxury of destabilising another club.
‘In that sense, we will have to speak with UEFA and FIFA to avoid such actions. PSG must abstain from [talking about Messi].
‘It is out of place for another club to speak about him. And, at the moment, there is no president in place to respond to this lack of respect.’
Even PSG midfielder and Messi’s international team-mate Leandro Paredes publicly tried to persuade him to move to the French champions.
Barcelona have not yet resigned themselves to losing Messi but are set to face an almost impossible battle to keep hold of their star man with the player growing increasingly interested in a move away and the club’s finances decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Barcelona failed to pay Messi and the rest of his first-team team-mates in December and fear further missed payments as the effects of coronavirus continue to bite.
Manchester City, meanwhile, are also hoping to lure Messi to the Etihad to reunite with Pep Guardiola after narrowly missing out on him last summer.
Vincent Paul
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