Ex-Man United star weighs in on Messi vs Laporta dispute

Jordi Cruyff recently weighed in on the ongoing dispute between Lionel Messi and the Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, stressing that the Argentine was in control of his future. 

The former sporting director was asked if he would attempt to mediate the friction between Messi and the Barcelona president, after the Argentine visited the recently reopened Camp Nou and is rumoured to be backing Laporta’s opponents for the coming elections.

The former Manchester United striker explained that players like Messi are typically strong characters and explained that the Inter Miami star had full control of his future after Laporta voiced the desire to bring him back to a full Camp Nou.

“Well, my father also had his own character; he was rebellious, he was a rebel, and that kind of character and personality,” he said, per Sport. “Like my father, Leo Messi is a star. They have the luxury of choosing when they want to; that's the luck of the immortals, the truly special ones.

"One last dance? I don't know what his plans are; I can't answer that, but he's a very special player because of everything he's meant to me since I was little. 

“My father also passed away, sometimes better and sometimes worse, but the affection becomes mutual again with time. What's clear is that Leo is the one who decides his destiny and his future, the when and how, just like my father.”

As Pulse Sports reported, Joan Laporta campaigned in 2021, promising to keep Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and in the months after his election, he repeatedly said a new deal was “going well.” However, public reassurances collided with the club’s dire finances. 

By August 2021, Barca openly explained they had reached an agreement with Messi but could not register the contract under LaLiga’s strict salary-cap rules, meaning the club could not legally fit Messi’s wages into the 2021/22 accounts.

Laporta blamed the previous administration’s mismanagement (Josep Bartomeu’s) for the financial implosion and stressed that keeping the club solvent was paramount. This resulted in Messi’s emotional and abrupt exit that summer, despite Laporta’s earlier promises.

The fallout has left a long-running rift. Messi and members of his family have been publicly reported as still “very, very angry” about how that departure was handled, and former Barcelona officials have directly criticised Laporta for the breakdown in talks. 

Laporta has since said he wants to stage a formal tribute to Messi once the renovated Camp Nou is fully open and that relations have “more or less recovered.” Still, sources close to Messi and the recent “shock” visit by the Argentine to the under-construction Camp Nou show the wound has not fully healed