The Lionel Messi and Barcelona saga has a stunning final chapter.
Barcelona announced Thursday that due to economic issues, Messi will not return to the club. The announcement comes after multiple reports that the two sides hit a stumbling block on contract talks that were expected to result in the club legend returning for this season and beyond.
Messi is currently a free agent, with his previous contract expiring on June 30, and it had been reported that the two sides had agreed to terms on a new five-year pact that would keep him at Camp Nou until he’s 39. Given the club’s financial problems, he was going to accept a massive pay cut to return, but apparently even that was not enough.
It had been widely reported this week that Barcelona was going to register Messi in time so he could feature in the Joan Gamper Trophy preseason friendly—which this season is against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus—but that won’t be happening despite weeks of club president Joan Laporta assuring that all is well and that Messi would be returning.
The issue comes down to finances, according to the club. Barcelona needs to shed more salary from its books to be compliant with La Liga’s salary cap regulations and to be able to register Messi ahead of the new season, and even though Messi is prepared to accept a significant salary reduction, he’s still not going to sign for peanuts. Even with an injection of cash expected to be available following La Liga’s $3.2 billion deal with a private equity firm that was announced on Wednesday, there remain concerns. According to Spanish outlet Sport, Barcelona doesn’t trust that the money will actually be made available and hasn’t been factoring it into its calculations.
“Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles (Spanish Liga regulations). As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona,” the club wrote in a statement. “Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled. FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life.”
The development is stunning on multiple levels. Messi, who just achieved major international success with Argentina for the first time at the senior level by winning Copa América, has only known Barcelona in his professional career. La Liga’s season starts a week from tomorrow, and now he’s suddenly a superstar without a club. Only PSG and Manchester City have been seriously linked to him given the astronomical wages he commands, but those clubs had been preparing for seasons under the presumption that he would be returning to Barcelona.
Messi has spent 17 seasons with Barcelona, playing in a club-record 778 matches, scoring a club-record 672 goals assisting on 305 goals and winning 35 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles and four Champions League titles. He has won six Ballon d’Or/world player of the year awards and is a candidate to win a seventh later this year after another individual standout season at Barcelona coupled with his Copa América triumph.
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