Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed a conversation he had with Lionel Messi, where the player revealed why he snubbed a return to the La Liga club.

According to Messi, he rejected the chance to rejoin Barca because of how “difficult” his spell at Paris Saint-Germain was.

Instead, the Argentina captain has agreed to a move to Inter Miami in Major League Soccer (MLS).

“The player wanted it, the father wanted it, but the rhythms are different. We didn’t want what happened last time,” Laporta said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

“He told us that he decided to join Inter Miami because he had spent very difficult seasons in Paris, where he was under a lot of pressure, while in Miami he would be calmer and could think about the national team, and that, although he wanted to come to Barça, he didn’t want to spend another year like this.”