With Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi linked with a return to FC Barcelona, how his shock departure from the Camp Nou last year affected him and his debut season for the Parisians has now seemingly been revealed.
Messi's August 2021 exit from Barca came as a huge surprise to many, including the 35-year-old himself, who was visibly devastated by the LaLiga club's decision to let him go.
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The Catalan club's poor finances at the time spelled the end of the attacker's almost 20-year-old association with the Blaugrana's first team, and he was immediately swooped up by PSG in the days that followed.
Messi would go on to endure a largely underwhelming first season at the Parc des Princes, scoring an uncharacteristic 11 goals in 34 appearances across all competitions in the 2021/22 campaign, which essentially resulted in him being omitted from the final 30-man shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d'Or – the first time he is not among the finalists for the prize since 2005.
Spanish journalist Guillem Balague has now revealed that he was told by Barca boss Xavi Hernandez and midfielder Sergio Busquets how distraught the seven-time Golden Ball winner was upon his Barca exit, and how it affected early days in France.
"It's no secret that Messi has low emotional volume when he's on the pitch," Balague told French publication Le Parisien.
"But clearly, having to leave Barcelona has affected him immensely.
"The day his departure was announced, Xavi and Busquets said they saw him broken, collapsed. He couldn't control his emotions and broke down.
"And since nothing was going well that day, he didn't have a handkerchief… That partly explains how he went through last season.
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"This departure, he experienced it as an injustice. Today, he is focused on his season at PSG and the World Cup."
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