Lionel Messi is in the final months of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, and talk of a Barcelona reunion is heating up.
Xavi insisted it is not the time to talk about a potential reunion with Lionel Messi as Barcelona close in on the LaLiga title.
Barcelona, who have already secured the Supercopa de Espana, the club’s first silverware since Messi’s departure in 2021, lead LaLiga by 12 points and have a 1-0 lead in the Copa del Rey semi-final against Real Madrid.
A potential treble remains on the cards for Xavi’s side, but with Messi now in the final months of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain, there is growing demand to bring Argentina’s World Cup winner back to Camp Nou.
While Xavi is understandably keen to bring his former team-mate back to Barcelona, his focus is on the upcoming matches rather than potential transfer activity.
“I think now is not the time to talk about Messi’s return. I speak with Leo often, I have a friendship, but now is not the time,” he told reporters before facing Elche.
“Neither because of him, nor because of the club. It is a topic that is discussed, I am in contact with him a lot.
“I hope we see him here again, I’d be the first one to make them happy. He’s the best player in history, but boy, it’s not time for that.”
“We are a month away from winning two titles and it is time to focus.
“It doesn’t matter about me, it’s much more about what Leo wants to do. He’s done everything in football, he’s won everything, it’s about his luck.”
“I have a great relationship with him and if he decides he wants to come back we will listen to him and be happy.
“We’ll listen to fate. We’ll see what happens, nothing yet. We’ll see what her will is.
“We are doing a disservice to Leo, the team, the club. We are one step away from achieving the success in the post-Messi era that scared us so much. That is success.”
With further pressure on Messi and next season, Xavi has once again looked to shift his focus towards pushing for more silverware this campaign.
“We haven’t talked to the board about next year,” he said. “We’re one step away from winning the titles and you’re talking to me about signings next year. You’re specialists in changing the subject.”
“We can go to the Copa final on Wednesday. Everything is to be won.
“Sometimes I don’t understand you [the media]. All year we talk about winning titles and now that we are one step further we are talking about players for next season. Let’s focus on Elche.”
