MESSI'S RETURN TO BARCA

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Born in Rosario, Argentina in 1987, Messi began his football career at a young age and quickly rose to fame for his impressive skills on the field. In 2003, at the age of just 16, Messi joined Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia. Over the years, he developed into one of the best players in the world and spent 21 years at Barcelona before his shocking departure in August 2021.

Messi's career at Barcelona was nothing short of spectacular. He won countless trophies with the club, including 10 La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey titles, and 4 UEFA Champions League titles. He also won numerous individual awards, including 7 Ballon d'Or awards, which are given to the best player in the world.

However, despite his incredible success at Barcelona, Messi's future at the club was called into question in 2020 when he expressed his desire to leave. This was a shock to many fans and pundits, as Messi had spent his entire career at Barcelona and had become synonymous with the club. Ultimately, Messi decided to stay for one more season, but his future remained uncertain.

Then, in August 2021, Barcelona announced that Messi would be leaving the club. This news sent shockwaves through the football world, as Messi had become an icon at Barcelona and was widely considered to be the greatest player in the club's history. Many fans were left heartbroken by the news, and the club faced widespread criticism for allowing Messi to leave.

The 35-year-old Argentina forward, who is Barcelona's all-time top scorer with 672 goals in 778 games, is coming to the end of his two year contract at Paris St-Germain and still has a deal on the table at the French side.

Messi's commitment to PSG ends this summer, and with no movement on extending his stay in France, Barcelona want him back.

However, the dreams of just about everyone at the club crash head-on with the stark reality.

Barcelona have a wage bill of about 600m euros (£531m) which they need to reduce by at least 200m (£177m).

Before they can even make a formal offer to Messi this financial restructuring must happen, because if it does not - forget Messi for a moment - they will not even be able to register new contracts with the likes of Gavi, Araujo, Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto, nor finalise any renewals and sign reinforcements for next season with a deal for Athletic Bilbao centre-back Inigo Martinez already agreed.

The club will have to present a viability plan to La Liga, which will mean more wage cuts, players sold and others arriving on free transfers. There is even talk about terminating some players' contracts.

Only when all this is sorted out can they think about returning into the transfer market for new players, among them Messi.

Also the club's enforced move to the former Olympic Stadium at Montjuic until November 2024 at the earliest because of the renovation of the Nou Camp means they will lose about 55m euros (£49m) in ticket sales.

Barcelona have raised 1.4bn euros (£1.24bn) for the creation of the new stadium which is in addition to the 1.3bn (£1.15bn) they already owe.

Investment banking company Goldman Sachs now has a sizeable control of the club because it has covered a lot of that debt or has managed to get other investors on board and wants a bigger say in decisions. It, like the club, is interested in the return of Messi, which might help attract more investors and sponsors.

The hopes are that the arrival of Messi would lead to the more rapid payments of those debts, and the media is giving hope to the masses as they listen to the club telling them they will convince Messi to return.