Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted that he was hopeful of convincing Lionel Messi to play for the club for free.

The Argentina international left Barcelona over the summer following the expiration of his contract, with the Catalan giants unable to sign him to a new deal due to their deep financial issues.

Messi ultimately joined Paris Saint-Germain on a lucrative two-year contract, but Laporta had been hopeful of convincing the 34-year-old to reject interest from the French giants to play for the La Liga outfit for free.

"With Messi I do not get angry because I appreciate him," Laporta told RAC1. "But when we see that he could not stay there is a certain disappointment on both sides. I know they had a huge desire to stay, but a lot of pressure because of the offer they had.

"Everything indicates that he already had the offer from PSG. Everyone knew that he had a very powerful offer. We knew that from Messi's side they had a very good offer.

"I did hope that at the last minute Messi would say he would play for free. I would have liked that and he would have convinced me. I understand that the league would have accepted it. But we cannot ask that of a player of his level.

"I thought it because I know him, he went up to the first team when I was there, I helped his family a lot. He knew that when our economic situation recovered he would be reciprocated."

Messi made 778 appearances for Barcelona between 2004 and 2021, scoring 672 goals and contributing 301 assists in the process.