{"id":66632,"date":"2026-02-10T20:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lionel-messi-considers-return-to-fc-barcelona"},"modified":"2026-02-10T21:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:09:11","slug":"lionel-messi-considers-return-to-fc-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lionel-messi-considers-return-to-fc-barcelona","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi Considers Return to FC Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Lionel Messi continues to follow FC Barcelona from afar while playing for Inter Miami.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Living in the United States, the Argentinian has reportedly opened the door to an active return to the Catalan club, but not as a player. As the presidential election approaches, his future link with Barc\u0327a once again fuels speculation.<\/p>\n<p>Before the FC Barcelona presidential election scheduled for Sunday, March 15, Joan Laporta resigned in order to run again. These elections draw strong attention, especially with Lionel Messi\u2019s situation still at the center of discussions.<\/p>\n<p>Last November, the 38-year-old made a surprise visit to Camp Nou and expressed a desire to return to the club in some capacity, not simply for a farewell.<\/p>\n<p>Despite settling in Miami in 2023, Messi closely follows developments at his former club, even if relations with Joan Laporta have remained tense since his departure.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sport, Messi has not met any candidates and prefers to stay out of the electoral process. He will not vote due to his MLS commitments and wants to keep a low profile. However, the idea of a future role remains alive.<\/p>\n<p>Messi plans to return to live in Barcelona after his contract with Inter Miami ends and could then become involved in the club\u2019s sporting management, provided a president he trusts is elected.<\/p>\n<p>For now, he remains focused on his performances in the United States, while keeping a watchful eye on the future of the club where he built his legendary legacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Lionel Messi continues to follow FC Barcelona from afar while playing for Inter Miami. Living in the United States, the Argentinian has reportedly opened the door to an active return to the Catalan club, but not as a player. As the presidential election approaches, his future link with Barc\u0327a once again fuels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-66632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lionel Messi Considers Return to FC Barcelona - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. 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