FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the club is working on a project to create a statue of Leo Messi, which would be placed at the new Spotify Camp Nou. The announcement coincided with an unexpected and unannounced visit by the Argentinian to the stadium, which is currently under reconstruction.

Messi to have his own statue?

During the presentation of Xavi Torres’ book Jo vaig viure a la Masia (I Lived in La Masia), Joan Laporta officially announced that Barcelona has begun efforts to erect a statue of Leo Messi on the grounds of new Spotify Camp Nou. It is the first time the club president has publicly confirmed concrete steps in this matter.

Laporta had no doubt that such a gesture is an obligation towards the player who for more than a decade was the face of the club and the foundation of its greatest successes. Messi will remain linked to Barça; he knows the doors are open for him. We hold him in enormous esteem; he deserves the best tribute from Barça. He should have a statue at the Spotify Camp Nou stadium, just like Cruyff and Kubala. We discussed this at a board meeting and we are working on it, he emphasized.

The family must give their consent, and all Barça fans would want this. When the right moment comes and we have the statue’s design, we will present this proposal, the president added.

© FC Barcelona

Laporta trying to rebuild relations

The Barça president’s statements did not come out of nowhere. They are directly connected to what happened just an hour earlier: a nighttime, unannounced visit by Leo Messi to the Camp Nou construction site. The Argentinian turned up at the stadium without informing the club in advance, took photos, and recorded footage that he published on Instagram the following day. Last night I returned to the place I miss with all my heart… I hope that one day I will be able to come back here, and not only to say goodbye as a player, which I was never able to do… he wrote.

Laporta later admitted on Catalunya Ràdio that he had no idea about the visit. He called the gesture spontaneous and full of affection, expressing a deep attachment to Barcelona. At the same time, he tried to avoid escalating the conflict, stressing that it was an expression of Barcelona patriotism. He also tried to highlight that the bond remains intact. These are good relations. We love him here, this is his home and he knows it, he assured.

© FC Barcelona

Third statue in history

In Barcelona’s plans, Messi is to stand alongside the two greatest icons of their respective eras. Before the Camp Nou redevelopment, there were only two statues there. One of them is of Ladislao Kubala – the star of the 1950s, whose goal-scoring exploits led the club to build a bigger stadium in 1957. The second is Johan Cruyff – the player and coach whose philosophy transformed Barça’s identity and led to the club’s first European Cup triumph in 1992.

Messi would become the third. Laporta makes no secret that this would be a symbolic gesture of including the Argentinian in the narrowest pantheon of club heroes. As Barça fans, we would very much like that. I think all Barcelona supporters would be delighted with a statue of Leo Messi in the place where the statues of the great figures in Barça’s history stand, he concluded.