Joan Laporta has insisted that Lionel Messi turned down the opportunity to re-join Barcelona due to his 'difficult' spell at Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi spent two seasons at PSG after leaving Barça in 2021 due to the club's inability to register his contract thanks to financial issues, but managed to score just 32 goals for the club in that period. Despite winning two Ligue 1 titles, poor performances in the UEFA Champions League led to Messi being the subject of a number of fan protests at the tail-end of his career in Paris.

The legendary Argentine was available on a free transfer this summer thanks to the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain, and Barca had been confident of re-signing their all-time highest goalscorer.

Ultimately, however, Messi would opt to join MLS side Inter Miami instead and speaking to Mundo Deportivo, president Laporta has attempted to explain why.

"The player wanted it, the father wanted it, but the rhythms are different. We didn't want what happened last time," he said.

READ MORE ON LIONEL MESSI'S MOVE TO INTER MIAMI

"He told us that he decided to join Inter Miami because he had spent very difficult seasons in Paris, where he was under a lot of pressure, while in Miami he would be calmer and could think about the national team and that, although he wanted to come to Barça, he didn't want to spend another year like this.

"It's understandable and we're working on a great tribute to Messi that Barça should do."

Laporta's comments are in contrast to what Messi has said about his decision to join Inter Miami instead of La Blaugrana, with the legendary forward citing Barça's financial issues as the reason for his move to MLS.

"I heard it was said La Liga had accepted that everything was fine for me to return, there were still many other things that had to be done," said Messi.

"I heard that [Barcelona] had to sell players or lower player salaries and the truth is that I didn't want to go through that."

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This article was originally published on 90min as Joan Laporta gives bizarre explanation for Barcelona's failure to sign Lionel Messi.