RiseO’Neill Messi leaves FC Barcelona And the Spanish league. It’s hard for Spanish football fans to imagine that the sport will have worse news. The club stated in a brief press release on Thursday night that “economic and structural barriers” prevented Messi from signing a new contract-after 20 years of playing for the club. The Argentine only traveled from Ibiza to Barcelona on the same day of the summer vacation, and was supposed to sign a new five-year contract at 4pm. His father and manager Jorge Messi is also from Miami. Everything seems to be ready, it seems just a few small things. The club announced in mid-July that Messi is going to cut his salary by 50%. So far, according to media reports, his annual income is close to 140 million euros.
But even with this exemption, Barcelona will not abide by the financial fair play regulations of the Spanish League. “Our salary is equivalent to 110% of our income,” club owner Joan Laporta told the daily nation Open in July. Laporta had asked the alliance to apply these regulations flexibly, but to no avail. UEFA has also formulated financial fair play rules that allow a certain degree of flexibility. But at FC Barcelona, it has been impossible to talk about temporary imbalances for a long time, and officials may turn a blind eye again. The extra nearly 254 million euros from the Spanish league flowed into the club’s vault, and it did not bring anything to the club. La Liga sold 11% of its shares to a private equity firm this week, and the deal brought Spanish football nearly 2.7 billion euros in revenue.
But in view of the financial problems of FC Barcelona, the 254 million euros is just a drop in the ocean. In June, members approved the debt refinancing at the annual general meeting of shareholders. Treasurer and Vice President Eduardo Romeu painted a dire financial situation and approved a new loan of 525 million euros. The total liabilities exceed 1 billion euros. The TV revenue for the next five years is deposited as a security deposit. In order to fulfill the payment obligations in the summer before the loan was approved, the association had to take out a bridging loan of 80 million euros. Cadenaser Radio commented on Messi: “Barça is a club on the verge of bankruptcy and can no longer afford one of the highest paid athletes in the world.”
“I always want to win”
Or it may not be money at all. Fans still remember the termination of the contract that Messi faxed to the club on August 25 last year. He explained in an interview at the time that there has been no sports in Barcelona for a long time, which is why he would rather look for his sports future elsewhere. Even if Ronald Koeman becomes the new coach, nothing seems to have changed this season. Although Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, they only ranked third in the league and were eliminated in the Champions League round of 16. Sergio Aguero, who was eliminated by Manchester City in the new season, is the most eye-catching reinforcement, but the club hopes to send Antoine Griezmann back to Atletico Madrid. After a well-thought-out season plan, these players are not like Messi.
But at the age of 33, the Argentine still yearns for the championship. “I always wanted to win,” he said when he wanted to leave the club last year. But where can I go now? The Spanish media is speculating whether Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City will become the new club. Catalans, suffering from economic difficulties, returned empty-handed. Messi currently has no contract with them. Cadenaser’s reporter said that if they let themselves be talked about a year ago, 100 million euros in transfer proceeds would be possible.
