Xavi Hernandez, the Barcelona manager, has welcomed Lionel Messi, the Paris Saint-Germain star back to Camp Nou.
Xavi said Messi deserves a second chance after leaving his boyhood club Barcelona for PSG last summer.
The Spaniard said this ahead of Barcelona’s pre-season friendly tie with NY Red Bulls on Sunday.
“I would like Messi’s time at Barcelona not to have ended. I think he deserves a second stage here at FCB. I wish so,” Xavi was quoted by Fabrizio Romano as saying.
“If the question is whether I would like him to come back? The answer is a resounding yes!”
Messi has only spent one season in France after leaving Barcelona as a free agent last summer.
However, the Argentine captain is being linked with a return to the Camp Nou, where his former teammate Xavi is now head coach.
The 35-year-old signed a two-year deal with PSG and could be a free agent next year.
