Joan Laporta has revealed he hoped Lionel Messi would make a last-ditch offer to play for free to avoid him leaving Barcelona.
Messi ended up moving to Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster free transfer move in August.
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It came after long negotiations over his new Barcelona contract reached a point where the Catalan giants could no longer afford to renew his terms while complying with the financial rules in LaLiga.
Messi, who this week insisted he had not made a mistake in joining PSG, was in tears as he attended his farewell news conference at Camp Nou and admitted he was leaving against his will.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2021
Barca president Laporta was holding out hope Messi would end up staying without taking a salary but ultimately felt it was unreasonable to expect that from the six-time Ballon d'Or winner.
"With Messi I do not get angry because I appreciate him," Laporta said to RAC1. "I love him too much to be angry.
"I know he had a huge desire to stay, but also a lot of pressure because of the offer he had.
"Everyone knew that he had a very powerful offer. Everything indicated that he already had the offer from PSG and would go there if he did not stay."
Laporta added: "There comes a time when you see that things just cannot happen, and there was disappointment on both sides.
"When it came to making the decision, I thought I was doing the best thing for Barcelona - nothing can put the institution at risk.
"I did hope that at the last minute there would be a change and Messi would say that he would play for free.
"I would have liked that and he would have convinced me. I understand that the league would have accepted it. But we cannot expect that from a player of his level.
"We have a very good relationship. I knew that if we recovered financially we would compensate him, but we couldn't make demands knowing the offer he had in Paris."
13 - Paris have attempted 13 shots during this match (0 on target), their highest tally without registering a single shot on target in the same Ligue 1 game since Opta collect this data (2006-07). Disappointed. #SRFCPSG pic.twitter.com/2UL1XbLwpN
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 3, 2021
Messi scored his first PSG goal in the Champions League win over Manchester City last week but has failed to score in his first three Ligue 1 appearances, including Sunday's shock 2-0 loss to Rennes.
