Four years after farewell in tears, Lionel Messi is again associated with FC Barcelona. According to El Nacional, the Argentinian could come back on loan during the MLS winter break (December 2025-February 2026). A romantic idea … but totally unrealistic. Here is why.
Barça, still financially suffocated
In 2021, Messi left Barça in spite of himself, victim of the Salary Cap de la Liga. Today, nothing has changed. The recording of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor's contracts dragged for several months, proof that the Catalan club remains under infusion. “Even by lending Messi, his salary (40 to 50M €/year) would be unmanageable”,
explains an accountant close to La Liga. Spanish law prohibits a salary reduction of more than 50%, and even this would not be enough.
Messi will not return to Barça.
Jorge Mas (Inter Miami) Closes the door for Messi
The owner of Inter Miami hammered it in 2023: “A loan at Barça?” Out of the question. »» If Mas admits that a “goodbye worthy” at Camp Nou is possible (via a friendly match), he refuses any competitive adventure. Objective: protect your investment. Messi, 37 years old in 2025, must remain fresh for the MLS and the 2026 World Cup.
Messi's hellish calendar
Between the MLS (February-November 2025), the Club World Cup (summer 2025) and the 2026 World Cup, Messi would continue 24 months of competition without break. “It is an insane risk for his physique”, alert a physical trainer. Would Barça want an exhausted messi … for two months?
The emotional farewell … but in a friendly
There remains the hope of a last tribute to the renovated camp Nou. Mas would be ready to release Messi for a testimonial match, but no more. “He deserves that, but not at the expense of our season”he insists. A ceremony, yes. A loan, no.
Messi will return to Barça… in a statue, not as a player. Between finances, sporting logic and physical reality, the dream comes up against a wall. And if the best way to love Messi was to leave him where he is: in the hearts of the abutments, not on the ground.
