In an interview with Italian newspaper ‘Corriere dello Sport’ published today, FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta admits to having a good relationship with his Inter Milan counterpart, Massimo Moratti, which also reveals the intricacies of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s signing.

“We met at the house of a mutual friend, the Ambassador of Kuwait in Madrid in 2005. We spent all night talking and a friendship was born there,” said Laporta, adding, “He is a very good businessman but is a gentleman nonetheless. He loves football and knows how to manage a football club. It’s no wonder he won the last four (Italian) championships, and I wish he wins the current one too.”

“Yes, our relationship made things that much easier. I knew that the operation was possible on 16 July, on my flight to Donetsk, to negotiate for Chygrynskiy. I told him I will fly over to Italy (to conclude the swap deal) and asked if we could meet in Milan,” Laporta said, acknowledging that rapport did facilitate the Eto’o-Ibrahimovic swap deal.

“I told him I would love to continue the conversation about Ibra, which had already begun (on and off) since June, and that I have a proposal for him and the player. He invited me to his house to talk about it, and at that moment I knew that the transaction was a done deal,” Laporta continued.

But there are things that the friendship cannot facilitate though, and one of them is the transfer of Lionel Messi. Moratti has never hides his desire to bring the player to Inter at the slightest possibility but Laporta is adamant about this subject: “Messi is not for sale, forget it. I have to tell him that this summer.”