Javier Tebas breaks silence on Barcelona's failed move to sign Lionel Messi

Messi was available on a free transfer this summer thanks to the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona had been confident of re-signing their all-time highest appearance maker and goalscorer.

The Argentine legend would opt to join MLS side Inter Miami instead, citing Barcelona's financial issues as a key reason for this decision in an interview with Mundo Deportivo and Sport.

He said I heard it was said La Liga had accepted that everything was fine for me to return, there were still many other things that had to be done. I heard that [Barcelona] had to sell players or lower player salaries and the truth is that I didn't want to go through that. Tebas has now commented on speculation around La Liga's involvement in Barça's attempts to bring Messi back to the league, telling Mundo Deportivo his prerogative has always been to make sure clubs are working in accordance with new regulations that have been passed. He said: "People always look for reasons where there are none.

We have always been very clear. Barça is not in the one-on-one norm, it is at 40%, and since the norm was changed for all the clubs, they are a little better than the last year, but it is by no means in the one-on-one norm. The viability plan is for all the clubs and it is as a consequence of the new Sports Law that was approved on December 22, which makes us even more responsible for the future of the clubs. The La Liga president's utterances were in reference to the league's new strict salary cap and Barça's inability to break it.

The salary cap is calculated for each club per season by subtracting non-sporting expense and any debt repayments from revenue, making Barça's currently salary cap €648.82m. Any move for Messi would have taken Barcelona's spending way above said cap, so players were needed to be sold this summer in order to make a deal plausible.