Lionel Messi is without a club for the first time in his football career and the world is anxiously waiting to see what will happen to the future of the football icon.
The 34-year-old Argentine football icon has been a typical one-club man as he has been at FC Barcelona since he started his professional football career in 2004. In the Spanish club, the record 6-time Ballon d’Or winner has won everything there is to win in club football.
As he helped Barcelona to win club titles, he earned accolades and financial rewards that might never stop flowing even after his exit from this world.
Most Barcelona fans believed that Messi is a Barcelona product that will retire from professional football at the club. But they received a shock of their lives when the Argentine football icon asked the club to allow him to join another club in August 2020.
Lionel Messi made this request after Barcelona failed to win any title in the 2019-2020 season for the first time under his watch. Since he still had a season left on his contract then, he could not fulfill his desire to leave the club. Hence, he remained at the club throughout the 2020-2021 season.
Messi and the state of his contract with Barcelona
As stated earlier, Lionel Messi started his professional football career at Barcelona in 2004 after graduating from the club’s football academy.
Due to how brilliant he is on the pitch, he is one of the few players in the history of football that never spent a season out of Barcelona for any reason.
In 2017, Lionel Messi signed a mega-contract with Barcelona that made him the highest-paid athlete in the world. The contract details which were revealed by El Mundo, the deal Messi signed in 2017 earned him €555,237,619 in four years.
The four-year salary includes Messi’s fixed salary, image rights, bonuses, daily allowances, and a list of variables depending on various objectives.
When the salary was broken down, it was revealed that Messi earned €138 million per season, which increased based on certain variables.
After he signed the four-year contract in 2017, Barcelona paid Messi €115,225,000 as a “renewal fee” for accepting the contract, and an additional €77,929,955 as a loyalty bonus. This fee were included in the €555,237,619 deal.
El Mundo today, what a bomb. Leo Messi’s contract with Barcelona revealed on front page 🔴👇🏻 @elmundoes
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 31, 2021
– €555,237,619 contract [4 years].
– €138m per season fixed + variables.
– €115,225,000 as ‘renewal fee’ just for accepting the contract.
– €77,929,955 loyalty bonus. pic.twitter.com/FK3I34hJta
This mega-deal expired on June 30, 2021, while Barcelona were trying to clear up their balance sheet. But the fact that his contract with the club has expired has not stopped the club to continue to negotiate with the representatives of the football icon while he is on international duty with Argentina in the ongoing Copa America.
The effort Barcelona has been making to renew Lionel Messi’s contract
Just like most football clubs in Europe, Barcelona are battling a serious financial crisis. They are currently owing almost 2 billion euros due to their ambitious spending over the years.
Amidst their growing debt, the club is trying to keep Lionel Messi who is the highest-paid player in the history of football. According to the new president of the club, Joan Laporta, the negotiation between the representatives of Messi and the club is still going on smoothly even though the contract of the player has expired.
Aside from the debt crisis, the club is battling with, the club has exceeded their salary limit. Reports say the club has been restricted from adding new players to the already registered players at the club.
Hence, the only way they can register the club’s new signing like Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia, and Emerson Royal ahead of the 2021-2022 season, the club must sell some players or cut players’ wages to balance their books.
To also offer Messi a contract extension this summer, some big names at the club have to go. Due to this, the club has already sold players like Konra de la Fuente, Junior Firpo, and Jean-Clair Todibo, but that is not enough.
Hence, the club has decided to release players like Miralem Pjanic and Samuel Umtiti to create more space for Lionel Messi’s contract extension.
Reports claimed that Barcelona is still weighing the option of selling either Antoine Griezmann who earns €880,000-a-week or Frenkie de Jong who earns €400,000-a-week to raise more money to facilitate Messi’s contract.
If Barcelona’s effort fails, which club will Lionel Messi sign for?
It will be difficult for Lionel Messi not to extend his contract with Barcelona. From all indications, Barcelona will re-sign Messi since the club has been trying to make so many sacrifices to keep him at the club.
But if Barcelona are not able to fulfill their desire to keep Messi beyond this summer, two clubs in Europe can afford to sign the player – Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City.
Since the back and forth between Messi and Barcelona started in August 2020, these are the only two clubs that have shown strong interest in the football star.
From a financial standpoint, they are currently among the few clubs in Europe that are not complaining about financial difficulties as much as other clubs.
Also, Messi and Neymar have been looking for the possibility of linking up again after spending 2013 to 2017 together at FC Barcelona. The Brazilian just renewed his contract with PSG and the French side has enough money to include Messi on their payroll.
On the other hand, Messi would not mind working with coach Pep Guardiola once again. He and the Spanish tactician had a wonderful time together at Barcelona and the Manchester City coach would not mind having him at City.
As it stands, the possibility that Messi will remain at Barcelona this summer is higher than the possibility that he would leave the club to join Manchester City or PSG.
While the world waits for what will happen between Messi and Barcelona, he and Neymar will face each other at the Maracanã stadium in Brazil on July 11 when Argentina and Brazil play the Copa America final. If Messi wins the trophy, that will be his first major trophy for Argentina.
