La Liga approve PSG superstar Lionel Messi's Barcelona return but another stumbling block emerges - Reports

Lionel Messi's potential return to Barcelona continues to make the headlines as we approach the summer transfer window. The Argentine joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on a free move from the Catalan giants in 2021 summer but his contract is set to expire this summer.

Recent reports have claimed that La Liga have approved Messi's return to Barcelona but the club are now facing another hurdle. As per journalist Toni Juanmartí, the player's entourage has reduced the frequency of talks with the club over a summer reunion.

This comes as Messi made an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, following which he was handed a two-week ban by PSG. This also put an end to all hopes that the Argentine will end up signing an extension with the French giants.

Barcelona, on the other hand, were struggling with financial issues and La Liga had reportedly put a ban on new signings until they freed up their wage bill. However, now that the league has sanctioned the signing, they have another issue to tackle.

Messi has recently been linked with a move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal as well. The club are said to be preparing a massive €400 million per year offer which would make the PSG forward the highest-paid footballer on earth.

Should Messi move to the Middle East, it would also add another chapter to his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently represents Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.

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Xavi confirms Barcelona-La Liga talks for Lionel Messi return

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez confirmed last week that the club held talks with La Liga over a potential Lionel Messi return. However, he was quick to add that there were other issues discussed as well.

The Spanish tactician also stressed that he, along with his squad, was solely focussed on winning the La Liga title this season. Xavi said during a press conference (via GOAL):

"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 Blaugrana are currently leading the league table with 82 points after 33 matches, 13 more than second-placed Real Madrid with just five matches left to play.