Deco confirms Messi to have a farewell match at new Spotify Camp Nou

FC Barcelona's director of football, Deco, confirmed in statements to 'Lance' that the club will organise a farewell match for Leo Messi as soon as the new Camp Nou is completed.

"I think there will be a farewell match, but maybe in the new stadium when it is ready," Deco said. "He will always be the biggest idol in the club's history. The club had great idols, like Cruyff, Ronaldo, but he is perhaps the greatest of all.

"He will definitely play a farewell game at Barcelona, but when it will be, we don't know. He is still playing, and hopefully he will play for more years, because the people who like football, who like him, will be happy to see him happy."

Praise for Raphinha

Deco also had praise for Raphinha, whom he represented before agreeing to head up Barça's football department.

"Raphinha was very important for Barcelona last year," he said. "He was important for us to win the league, especially in the second half of the campaign after Dembélé's injury. He took on the role of protagonist.

"The first year at Barcelona is always complicated for any player, but I think he did very well. This year he started well, he was unlucky to be sent off in the first game, but he came back and played well. And in a game he was playing very well, he suffered an injury.

"He will probably recover in another two weeks, but we count a lot on him. He is essential. As well as scoring a lot of goals and assists, he's a competitive player and that's very important for us."

Deco was satisfied with this season's additions: "Joao Cancelo and Joao Félix are players who were market opportunities on loan. They are players who have adapted very well to the coach's way of playing. We are happy, as we are with others like Oriol Romeu, Gundogan, Iñigo Martínez."

And he revealed the attempts to bring Neymar back: "There were conversations with his agent. This was much more to do with the president, but the truth is that the situation never really presented itself or how it could be done. We have the issue of the Financial Fair Play that conditions what we do a lot, but the situation of Neymar was never concretised.

"The numbers, we know, Neymar had a very high salary, he had offers from clubs in Saudi Arabia. It was very difficult to get Neymar back in the current scenario. He is a fantastic player. Obviously, he would fit in at Barcelona, but there was never a real possibility, beyond the desire he had to return from Barcelona."