Laporta reply Tebas: 'He has a sick obsession with wanting to hurt Barca'

After the allegations from Javier Tebas that Barcelona didn't do enough to keep Leo Messi, Joan Laporta has responded to the La Liga president.

"He says that Messi did not stay at Barca but he is the main culprit why he didn't stay, because of his excessive zeal. And because with his 'fair play' he wants to be holier than the pope," Laporta has told Diario Sport.

"What Barca will never do is let Tebas take over the club's rights, nor will we follow the personal projects of Mr Tebas who wants to use the club's interests to earn money, mortgaging the [TV] rights for 50 years.

"Instead of looking for agreement and understanding, he always seeks conflict and confrontation. He has a sick obsession with wanting to find a way to hurt Barca and our values, but we the fans already know him. To me, those statements seemed inappropriate coming from the league's president."

In his recent interview, Tebas claimed that Messi's departure from Camp Nou wasn't economically motivated.

He also said that Barca refused to sign the CVC deal — which would've helped them keep Leo — after an intervention from Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez.