Should Barcelona sign Messi? Maybe

When considering the possibility of a footballer returning to a former club, it's too easy to say 'never go back'.

It's not always that simple.

If Ian Rush had followed that advice, he wouldn't be Liverpool's all-time record goalscorer. If Mark Hughes followed that advice, he wouldn't have won multiple trophies for Manchester United, including scoring two goals in the European Cup Winners' Cup final. If Zlatan Ibrahimovic had followed that advice, Milan wouldn't be the reigning champions of Italy.

And that's without considering the unique situation surrounding Lionel Messi's proposed return to Barcelona. Neither Messi nor Barcelona actually wanted to part ways nearly two years ago; it was simply that Barcelona found themselves in such financial difficulty that they literally couldn't register him as a player. It's difficult to think of a comparable situation. In that sense, Barcelona would be merely correcting an error.

Besides, this is Messi. A 36-year-old Messi by the time of his second debut, granted, but this is nevertheless a footballer who, this season, has lifted the World Cup as captain, was named the best player at that tournament, and was then named the best footballer in the world by FIFA. Individually, there's a decent reason to support Barcelona bringing him home. The more you think about things, though, the more difficult it feels.

Messi remains the best in the world at being Messi, by which we mean: receiving the ball in inside-right positions, drifting inside and having the capability to play a killer pass, dribble past opponents and score goals. Even in a world where every aspiring footballer has been influenced by Messi, it's difficult to think of another footballer who can currently do all that better than him. And, as Lionel Scaloni and Argentina demonstrated in Qatar, surrounding Messi with organised, tenacious footballers can compensate for his weaknesses: namely, his inability to contribute much without possession.

Barcelona, though, find themselves in a tricky situation if they wanted to incorporate Messi. There's the obvious question of shape, particularly given Xavi Hernandez clearly wants a side that plays with a front five in possession. Messi can probably only belong in the central or inside-left positions in that front five.

The inside-right position would be the most natural fit. Messi could drift inside from the right of a classic Barcelona 4-3-3, or — more in keeping with Xavi's general approach — he could play the inside-right position as part of a box midfield, effectively a 3-4-2-1/3-2-4-1.

In that role, though, Messi would need to be surrounded by certain types of players. Barcelona would definitely need someone holding width on the right and showing defensive discipline without possession. That would be a challenge for a winger like Raphinha, who is too attack-minded and, a little inconveniently, left-footed.

Barcelona don't have a proper attack-minded right-back to roar forward in the way Achraf Hakimi does at Paris Saint-Germain and the way Nahuel Molina did to decent effect at the World Cup. Indeed, Xavi's approach this season has been to use a very defensive-minded right-back tucking inside to become part of the back three. Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo have often switched positions; sometimes centre-back, sometimes right-back.

In fact, Barcelona's ideal right-sided player in a Messi-based side would be a right-footed version of Alejandro Balde, who is enjoying a fine campaign down the left because he's capable of playing left-back, left-midfield and left-wing simultaneously. That has allowed Barcelona's left-sided forward to drift inside and become an inside-left.

Lionel Messi faces the media during a press conference at Camp Nou on August 08, 2021 (Photo: Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Messi's presence in that inside-right role might also dictate the nature of the player behind him in the 'box'. PSG have often used young Portuguese midfielder Vitinha in something of a 'balancing' role in big games this season; when Messi is positioned high and dawdling back into position, Vitinha is the one scrapping deep. But when Messi wants to drop deep and receive passes to feet inside his own half, Vitinha has pushed higher to occupy defenders and afford him space. Franck Kessie might fancy his chances of playing that role.

An alternative plan, as suggested by the Barcelona-based Sport newspaper this week, would be for Messi to play at the top of a diamond, behind Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele. There isn't too much difference between a diamond and the classic Barcelona 4-3-3, although the presence of Lewandowski, clearly a central striker, complicates things. Presumably, the plan would be for Balde to push forward from the left, Lewandowski to play left-centre, Messi in the middle, an onrushing midfielder to play the right-centre role, and Dembele to drift out to the right. It makes some degree of sense.

A different question is the impact on Pedri and Gavi. Unlike Messi, they are both the current and the future and their roles would inevitably be diminished if Messi were to rejoin. Yes, they would learn a thing or two from playing alongside the best footballer of this era, but the pattern in these situations tends to be that, actually, you take something away from emerging youngsters by compromising their status in the side.

Both have, at least, proved versatile and both offer the youthful tenacity to help compensate for Messi's defensive shortcomings. Besides, history suggests Messi is so revered that even talented technical players are happy to do the donkey work for him.

Then there is, of course, the financial side of things. Barcelona won't be offering Messi the most lucrative wages. The reported offer on the table from Saudi Arabia is so colossal that, in a funny way, it may actually enable Barcelona to offer Messi a more modest package — they simply can't compete in that respect, they can only attract him through emotion.

There are also legitimate concerns over the status of Gavi, who has been re-registered as an academy player and is technically free to leave this summer, and Balde, who the club want to tie to a long-term contract, but cannot do that without the approval of La Liga. For all Messi's star power, those players should take precedence.

Ultimately, the answer to the conundrum is not the catchy 'Barcelona must do everything they can to sign Messi', or the equally simplistic 'Barcelona must avoid Messi'. There's a level of financial outlay where Messi's return would benefit the club. But that level is relatively low and Barcelona cannot afford to tie themselves to a 36-year-old Messi for multiple years unnecessarily. If he wants this to happen, he will have to take a major financial hit.

For their part, Barcelona don't have to entirely take the emotion out of things. For supporters and for the club's brand, seeing Messi back in blaugrana might be enough of a thrill to justify a minor decline in the quality of the side overall — although it's worth remembering that with the club set to play next season away from Camp Nou, the level of nostalgia is slightly lessened.

Nevertheless, most footballing romantics would love to see Messi back at Barcelona. The probability of his return depends on whether Messi himself is a footballing romantic.