Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lionel Messi has reportedly been ignoring phone calls from former club Barcelona as speculation over his future intensifies.
The 35-year-old could leave the French champions as a free agent at the end of the season, having penned a two-year deal upon his departure from Camp Nou in 2021.
Messi initially struggled to adapt to life in Paris, but he has made a stellar start to the 2022-23 campaign with 12 goals and 13 assists in 17 games in all tournaments.
PSG do possess an option to extend Messi's contract until the summer of 2024, and the Ligue 1 powerhouses are expected to offer the Argentina international a new deal.
The attacker is not expected to make any decisions on his future until after the World Cup, but a return to Barcelona has been strongly mooted amid encouragement from club chiefs.
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Joan Laporta has spoken frequently of his desire to bring Messi back to Camp Nou, while Mateu Alemany has claimed that Barcelona would have the financial muscle to pull off a deal.
However, Sport claims that Messi has been snubbing all of Laporta's attempts to contact him and has no interest in mending his broken relationship with the club.
The report states that Laporta has been unsuccessfully trying to call Messi through intermediaries and also tried to meet him at the recent Ballon d'Or awards without success.
Messi supposedly feels that he was misled and betrayed by Laporta and other Barca chiefs upon his departure in 2021, damaging the club's prospects of a sensational reunion.
A separate report had claimed that Barcelona were hoping to lure Messi back to Camp Nou as quickly as January, but Inter Miami are now said to be the frontrunners for his signature.
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The MLS outfit are thought to be increasingly confident about sealing a deal for the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, whom they hope will agree to a move within the coming months.
A report from The Athletic states that the attacker's father Jorge Messi has met several times with the club's owners, and talks have been taking place for a couple of years now.
However, Messi will first focus on the upcoming World Cup with Argentina, who will do battle with Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland in Group C later this month.
The former Barcelona man left La Blaugrana having scored 672 goals and set up 303 more in 778 matches, and he has 23 goals and 28 assists to boast from 51 games in a PSG shirt.
Christophe Galtier's side will endeavour to qualify for the Champions League last 16 in first place when they finalize their group-stage campaign against Juventus on Wednesday night.
Ben Knapton
