Laporta tells Messi & 'enslaved' Neymar they should return to Barcelona for free as he attacks PSG for 'kidnapping' Mbappe

Joan Laporta has told Lionel Messi and his "enslaved" team-mate Neymar that they should return to Barcelona for free, while also attacking Paris Saint-Germain for "kidnapping" Kylian Mbappe.

Neymar emerged as one of the best players in the world during his four-year stint at Barca as he formed one-third of an all-star front three alongside Messi and Luis Suarez, but left the club to join PSG in a world-record deal in 2017.

The Brazilian reunited with Messi at Parc des Princes last summer as the Argentine was forced to leave Camp Nou due to the club's excessive wage bill, and Laporta believes that both men are now constrained by their respective contracts with the Ligue 1 champions.

It has been suggested that PSG could put Neymar on the market after tying Mbappe down to a new contract, but Laporta doubts whether a transfer would be feasible for the 30-year-old.

"Who doesn't love Neymar? He is an exceptional player," the Barca president has told L'Esportiu de Catalunya.

"He has a contract with PSG, he has four or five years left. These players who have signed for clubs like PSG have almost signed their slavery. For money."

Laporta added on Messi and Neymar now being bound to PSG: "Messi has gone. We would all have liked him to end his sporting life here and for whatever reason he has not been able to.

"It could not be because of the fair play [rules] of the Spanish league and the proposal of PSG. These players, when they enter a dynamic like this find that they cannot leave because the operations are many millions of euros. 

"You tell me, in the case of Neymar: I don't know how they do it in France, because maybe they have other systems that we don't have here, but cancelling a system that is signed in advance costs a lot