A few hours after the announcement of the departure of his legendary player, the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, justified the non-extension of Lionel Messi’s contract by the “Risk” financial she would have represented for the club. His long-awaited press conference took place on Friday, August 6, when the football world was still stunned by the abrupt end of the Argentinian magician’s Blaugrana career.
“I’m sad, but I think we did what was best for the interests” club, explained Mr. Laporta:
“An investment of the volume represented by Leo Messi carried certain risks that we were prepared to assume […] when we understood in detail the situation of the club […] we did not want to further endanger the institution. “
The Barcelona president reiterated that Messi, 34, “Wanted to stay” in Barcelona and that an agreement for the extension of his contract had been reached. The Spanish sports press, which followed this footbalistico-financial soap daily, had reported: Messi and Barcelona had agreed on a new five-year contract with an annual salary divided by two, estimated at 74.9 million. euros net.
667 goals in 779 games
The catastrophic financial situation of the club, with losses of 497 million euros for the 2020-2021 season and debts to the tune of 1.173 billion euros, as well as the rules imposed by the Spanish football league, got the better of the signature, explained the Barcelona president. “Messi has worked hard for the negotiations, said Mr. Laporta, but La Liga legislation is not flexible and has prevented this agreement from succeeding ”. La Liga has indeed demanded that the club reduce its payroll by 187 million euros, an amount incompatible with the salary of the Argentine.
FC Barcelona for the 2021-2022 season will therefore play without its captain, its top scorer and record holder for the matches played, the one who scored 667 goals in 779 matches, won 35 titles, including four Champions Leagues, as well as six Balloons. gold.
“We have to show the world that Barca can win without Messi”, tried to positively Laporta, who was the president of the club between 2003 and 2010, one of the best periods of the club with Messi. He had been re-elected to the post of president in March, with precisely the promise of winning by keeping a Messi who had already hinted that he would like to leave. “Messi leaves an exceptional legacy at Barça. The best in history. There will be a before and an after Leo ”, he concluded, before adding, as if to try to convince himself: “Barça is above the players and the leaders. “
Messi has not reacted yet, but he has “other proposals”
After spending more than twenty years in the only club he has known in Europe, Lionel Messi therefore finds himself without a club. He is technically free to sign where he wants, but his salary drastically reduces the list of those able to accommodate him.
Joan Laporta assured that the player had “Other proposals”, without giving the slightest name. The player himself, still on vacation in Argentina, has not commented on his departure from Barcelona, nor on his potential future club.
The Associated Press, anonymously citing a person familiar with the matter, claims Messi called PSG coach his compatriot Mauricio Pochettino. A contact that could mean that the Qatari fund QSI, owner of the Parisian club, is ready to take out the petrodollars to build a team that would recall the Galacticos from Real Madrid in the early 2000s: Messi, therefore, with Neymar, his former Barcelona teammate Kylian Mbappé, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italian goalkeeper European champion, and Angel DiMaria, with whom he has just won the Copa America.
On the side of The team, on the other hand, we judge, citing internal sources, that this dream is “Not realistic” taking into account the regulations of financial fair play and the club’s priority: another extension, that of Mbappé, whose contract ends in 2022.
The other candidate often mentioned is Manchester City, coached by Pep Guardiola, Messi’s former mentor at Barça. But the very recent signing of England midfielder Jack Grealish, for 140 million euros, seems to have buried this possibility.
