Barcelona president pinpoints reason for forward's contract failure, while blasting La Liga chief

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has come down hard on La Liga chief Javier Tebas after the latter claimed that it was not financial troubles that saw Lionel Messi leave the club this summer. The La Liga president also claimed that Barcelona's reluctance to accept the investment of CVC was tied to their commitment to the Super League.

Laporta believes Tebas is "obsessed" with the Catalan club and is always looking to hurt them publicly rather than settling differences in private. The Barcelona president also put the blame back on La Liga's stringent Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules for Messi leaving the club where he spent his entire professional career.

"Instead of looking to resolve discrepancies politely, Tebas always looks for conflict and disagreement. He has a sick obsession to see how much he can hurt Barça and its values, we Culés already know that," Laporta said, as quoted on Mundo Deportivo.

Messi joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer just days prior to the close of the summer transfer window. Barcelona were unable to agree a deal with the Argentine superstar as they struggled to meet the FFP regulations by slashing their over inflated wage bill.

Tebas insisted that Messi's departure was not linked to the financial trouble while hinting that his contract was tied to the CVC deal that was in place before Barcelona and Real Madrid went against it. However, Laporta has refuted the claim and made it clear that he will not allow Tebas to make a name for himself by hurting Barcelona's image going forward.

"Tebas says that Messi has not stayed at Barça, but he's the main culprit. He did not stay because of this man's pride and his fair play rules. He always wants to be the protagonist. Other leagues were more flexible with FFP, and no one else lost their best players," the Catalan outfit's chief added.

"What we will not do is allow Tebas to hurt the club in ways that we can control. We will not agree to Mr. Tebas' personal projects that only want to use Barça's interests to make more money for himself, taking our TV rights for the next 50 years."