Barcelona presidential candidate Victor Font is convinced Xavi can help persuade Lionel Messi to stay.

The Al Sadd coach has been mentioned as a future general manager by Font should he win election.

He told Mundo Deportivo: "Messi has explained it, he ideally wants to stay here and finish his sports career at Barça. Before the summer, when the great frustration happened, it was what he had always said and had commented that the most important condition for him is to have a winning and competitive project.

"We have a winning, competitive project, with people like Xavi, in which once again, the trust and credibility of the different assets in a project is fundamental, this credibility and this relationship between Xavi and Messi exists, that's why I believe it is one of the main reasons and guarantees that Messi will feel very comfortable with our project and we will have many options for him to continue."