Barcelona president Joan Laporta has given the clearest hint yet of when the club intend to honour Lionel Messi, saying the tribute will wait until the Camp Nou rebuild is finished. Messi left the Catalan giants as a free agent in the summer of 2021, when Barcelona were in the grip of serious financial trouble, before signing for Paris Saint-Germain and later moving to Inter Miami in 2023, where he is still playing at 39.
Quoted by Víctor Navarro on X, Laporta explained the club's thinking. "We will pay him tribute when we have finished the stadium, whenever he wants, and we will place ourselves at his disposal to organize it," he said. "I am sure that on that day the sun would shine brightly and we could enjoy the talent and affection of the best player in the world."
Messi spent 21 years at Barcelona after arriving from Newell's Old Boys in 2000, going on to make 778 appearances, score 672 goals and set up a further 303 for teammates. He won 35 trophies in that time, including ten LaLiga titles and four Champions Leagues, cementing his status as arguably the greatest player the club has ever had.
Xavi's take on what made Messi different
The tribute talk comes as former teammate Xavi Hernandez offered his own take on Messi's genius. The pair were central figures in a Barcelona side that dominated Spanish and European football for over a decade, sharing the pitch together 399 times and combining for 43 joint goal contributions, including in the club's treble-winning campaigns of 2009 and 2015.
"You didn't need to understand football to know Messi was different," Xavi said. "When you watched Messi play or even train, you could immediately see that he was completely different. Even if you didn't understand football, you'd still watch him and think, 'Wow, what just happened?'"
Messi built his trophy haul alongside a golden generation at Camp Nou that included Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Carles Puyol and Thierry Henry, among others.
