Joan Laporta: Messi could have left Barça for Inter in 2006

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that in 2006 Inter made a move to sign Lionel Messi. 

“It was 2006 when Inter made an offer,” Laporta explains in an interview with The Guardian. “They were prepared to pay the €150m buyout clause, which is why we [later] raised it to €250m, but I always felt reassured by my relationship with his dad, Jorge."

Laporta adds: “I told him: ‘They’ll have to pay the clause because I won’t sell. He’ll be happy here, he’ll get glory. There, he’ll only win financially. Your son’s destined to be the greatest in history and here he’ll have a team to help get there. He’ll enjoy it’.

"For me the best ever are Cruyff, Maradona and Messi. Leo’s a mix of Cruyff and Maradona but he is Leo Messi"

The ex-president also admitted that he's "very Cruyffista" but "“but what Leo does -- and I talked about this a lot with Johan -- makes him the best in history. Johan said so too. Messi’s football is beautiful and effective. For me the best ever are Cruyff, Maradona and Messi. Leo’s a mix of Cruyff and Maradona but he is Leo Messi."

Laporta also spoke about current goings on at Barça and, in his opinion, the club "has been kidnapped. It’s hostage to the intoxication, manipulation and lies [of this board], and it’s sad. I’m demanding they resign." 

And he adds, referring to the claims made against him by the board that he was personally responsible for alleged losses during his mandate, that "what they did to us was shameful; they accused us of mismanagement, brought an action against us and tried to force us pay €79m for ‘losses’.

"Now it’s been proven, seven years later, that they were wrong. It’s a scandal. If they had any shame they’d resign; if they had any shame, they’d have gone when they did a deal with the public prosecutor to make the club, not them, liable in the Neymar case."