Messi's return to Barcelona almost impossible

Lionel Messi's return to Barcelona is threatened by the financial problems of the Catalan club.

According to AS, the management of La Liga say they have not yet discussed with Barcelona the return of the Argentine from Paris Saint-Germain. The move is described as almost feasible.

"The Blues Garnets would need to reduce the wage bill by around €200 million, which would be difficult to achieve because of the re-signing of Gavi, Ronald Araujo, Marcos Alonso, Sergi Roberto and Alex Balde on improved terms.

The club also wanted to accommodate the financial peculiarities by offering Messi a small salary during the first year of his contract. However, this is not possible due to the fact that the clubs have approved a rule prohibiting salary increases of more than 25 per cent in subsequent seasons.