FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that he has been in direct contact with Argentine football legend, Lionel Messi regarding a possible second stint at the club. Laporte disclosed this after the club won its 27th La Liga title on Sunday, May 14, following a 4-2 win over Espanyol. 
Speaking to newsmen Jijantes after the match on Sunday, May 14, he said; “We will do everything we can to bring Leo Messi back to Barcelona.” Giving a clearer detail on how far they’ve gone to ensure Messi returns to the club during an interview with RAC1 on Monday, May 15, Laporte said;
“I spoke with Messi recently, we have a relationship with him. Messi is the best player in the world and any coach would want him in his team. “He had some unpleasant incidents with the fans in Paris, I won’t disturb him right now. We exchanges some messages recently. Barca is Messi’s home and Barça can compete with Saudi Arabia and everyone.”
Lamine Yamal has become the youngest player ever to feature for Barcelona in a La Liga match. The 15-year-old made his long-awaited league debut for Barcelona’s senior team during a match against Real Betis on Saturday, April 29, which ended 4-0. 
Yamal had an impressive 10-minute appearance as he touched the ball 12 times and had a shot on goal in the lively showing. The Spain youth international is already playing ahead of his age category for the Juvenil A, Barca’s Under-19 side. He’s been on the cusp of the first team, with Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez said to be in “love” with the winger. Yamal has trained with the first-teamers and was named in the matchday squad for the game against Atletico Madrid. 
He has been at the Catalan club since he was seven and had been represented by former Barca and Espanyol midfielder Ivan de la Pena. Still so young, Yamal is yet to sign a professional contract with Barca but will be able to do so as soon as he turns 16 in July. Superagent Jorge Mendes is now handling Yamal as he looks to make the grade at Barca. 
Confirming that they are interested in bringing Messi back to Camp Nou, Xavi told reporters; “Yes [Barcelona met with La Liga], but not only for the possible arrival of Leo. We’ll see in order to improve the squad for next year, but it is not the important issue; there is still a league to win. 
“Tomorrow we have a key game and this is the important issue. This is a matter of Mateu (Alemany) and he informs us, but, in theory, everything is going well. In the end, we don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. It’s very soon to talk about it. We are focused on the match against Betis and on winning La Liga, which would give us a lot of stability. We will talk about possible signings.” 
The 31-year-old will become a free agent in June and has fallen further and further down the pecking order on Merseyside so far this season following the signings of both Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo. Barcelona is said to have won the race for Firmino’s signature, with the Mail reporting that the former Hoffenheim star will join Xavi’s side. Barca, who’re enduring well-documented financial troubles, are on course to win their first La Liga title since 2018 and want to strengthen their attack without breaking the bank, as Robert Lewandowski is currently their only recognised striker. 
The 31-year-old signed for £29milllion from Hoffenheim in 2015, scored 109 goals in 360 appearances during his time at Anfield. Firmino has been a staple part of Liverpool’s success winning the Champions League twice, the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Club World Cup during his eight-year spell. 
Messi is heading toward becoming a free agent as his deal with PSG expires at the end of this season. There’s no offer yet for a contract extension. There have been reports of interest from MLS and the Middle East, but strong professional ties to Camp Nou mean that a stunning retracing of steps could take the 35-year-old back to Catalunya. Confirming that considering re-signing Messi, Yuste said; 
32-year-old Gundogan is in the final few months of his contract at Manchester City, meaning he will be a free agent at the end of the season. Sport reported that while the club is willing to offer him a short-term extension, City has increasingly resigned to losing him for nothing at the end of the season. There’s also been no breakthrough in any negotiations behind the scenes. 
Barcelona is likely to be his next destination, a club he has always had affection for due to its culture and style of play. Xavi and Co are also keen on signing the German and strengthening their midfield, with Sergio Busquets likely to leave the club at the end of the season. Another reason Gundogan is reportedly likely to depart City is his wife Sara Arfaoui, who has grown tired of life in England. 
The 34-year-old who retired from professional football on March 22 having enjoyed a career at the highest level for over 15 years, said Jose Mourinho’s behaviour and treatment towards him made him chose Real Madrid over Barcelona. Ozil said the Portuguese manager treated him like a star, while the then-Barca boss, Pep Guardiola did not even make an effort to meet him. He told Marca; 
“It was a decision between Real Madrid and Barcelona. And in the end it was not a case of money. I don’t know if this is known, but I visited Madrid and Barcelona at that time and the difference was Jose Mourinho. Mou gave me a VIP visit to Real Madrid. He took me to see the stadium and all the trophies they had won. That gave me goosebumps. “The visit in Barcelona was less enthusiastic and what was more disappointing is that Pep Guardiola didn’t bother to meet me. Before that trip, I really liked Barcelona’s style of football and I could really imagine playing with them, but Madrid went all out. So Jose Mourinho was without a doubt the most important factor in my decision. After my visits, my decision was one hundred percent clear: I wanted to be a Madridista.” 
It was reported yesterday, March 10, that Spanish prosecutors have formerly slammed corruption charges against La Liga giant, Barcelona over alleged payments to a company that belonged to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former Vice President of Spain’s referees’ committee, for several years. It was alleged that the club made payments amounting to nearly €7 million (£6.2m/$7.4m) from 2001-2018 to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. Following the development, Real Madrid has convened an urgent meeting to discuss their next line of action. 
The club released a statement which read; “Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office against FC Barcelona and two of its presidents for well-founded suspicions of corruption and their relations with whoever was the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, the president has convened urgently to the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m., in order to decide on the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter.” 
“FC Barcelona obtained and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the technical arbitral committee (CTA) and in exchange for money, the latter carries out actions tending to benefit FC Barcelona in decisions by the referees.” Despite the club’s stance, revelations that Negreira offered to “help with VAR” suggests that there could be more for prosecutors to investigate. If found guilty, Barcelona could face sporting sanctions. Barcelona coach Xavi, who won eight La Liga titles with them as a player between 1998 and 2015, has said he had no knowledge of the payments and never had the feeling his team had any advantage. 
Barcelona had missed out on signing Araujo on January transfer deadline day as they were 18 seconds late in registering the paperwork, but they said earlier this month they would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to get the player registered. Late on Friday, February 17, LA Galaxy head coach and sporting director Greg Vanney confirmed Araujo’s move to Barcelona, saying that it is a great story of a young kid who excelled with LA Galaxy. 
He said; “Julian joining FC Barcelona is a great story of a young kid from Southern California coming into the LA Galaxy Academy, through LA Galaxy II and excelling with the first team.” Araujo signed a 3-1/2-year contract which would run till the end of the 2025-26 season. The 21-year-old won’t be able to play for Barcelona’s first team this season and will start with the B-Team, which is currently coached by Rafa Marquez. The Mexican has told Relevo that he could be part of the first-team set-up next season. 📌 Acord amb LA Galaxy per al traspas de 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮́𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗷𝗼 ✍ El jugador s’incorpora al 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗰̧𝗮 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗲̀𝘁𝗶𝗰 i signa fins al 30 de juny del 2⃣0⃣2⃣6⃣ 🙌 Benvingut, @julian__araujo !#ForçaBarça 💙❤ https://t.co/cGoBe2rdW4 — Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) February 17, 2023 A two-time MLS All-Star (2021-22), Araujo quickly established himself as one of the league’s most promising talents. He made his professional debut with LA Galaxy as a 17-year-old in 2019 and leaves the club with one goal and 20 assists in 100 regular-season games. Araujo played in 39 games last season with 35 starts. He had one goal with a career-high nine assists.