La Liga president Javier Tebas has claimed that Barcelona could have kept hold of Lionel Messi if they had not signed Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay in the summer transfer window.
Tebas says Barcelona president Joan Laporta was very keen to sign the CVC deal, which would have reportedly been worth around €270 million to Barca, and believes he pulled out because of pressure from Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez.
Here’s Tebas’s side of the story:
“I had dinner at Laporta’s house and he agreed to sign the CVC agreement,” he told Cope.