Barcelona President Admits That He Has Not Speak to Lionel Messi Since He Joined PSG

Barcelona president, Joan Laporta has revealed that he has not spoken to Argentina icon, Lionel Messi since the record six-time Ballon d'Or award winner left the Nou Camp for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer transfer window.

The Catalan giants shocked the footballing world earlier in the summer when they announced that they would not be offering Messi a new contract, which led to their greatest ever player leaving the club for Ligue 1.

Laporta was desperate to keep hold of Messi, and claimed that LaLiga requested the club to put pen to paper on the CVC agreement in order to give them the green light to renew the Argentinian's contract which expired on July 1.

"What happened is what has been explained. There are objective data. Everyone can compare. We were pressured that we would either sign the CVC loan [deal] or there is no fair play. There was no margin. There was a pre-agreement and we had shaken hands. There were several agreements and LaLiga seemed to accept it, but then they said no without CVC. We didn't think that the situation was going to improve and we put an end to it," he said as quoted by Marca.

"Messi could not have stayed even with [Antoine] Griezmann's [departure] and with the salary reduction of the captains. But it is important that we have lowered the salary cap because next year we can be more ambitious.

"I think we were both sad because the situation was not what we wanted. I have not spoken with Messi since. I saw his debut with PSG and it was strange to see him at another team, rivals [of Barcelona]. I did not like seeing him in another shirt," he concluded.

With Messi gone after 21 years, the Catalan giants find themselves in a precarious situation both financially and on the pitch, with the club's current debt meaning that they are not able to compete for the signings of the biggest players in the world.