Barcelona’s former striker Lionel Messi is now a free agent, that means he is able to sign with any football club he wishes and it may be Manchester City. However, La Liga president Javier Tebas is already making claims of financial dopping and he will most like pedal this false allegation if Messi signs with Man city.
According to Tebas, “Messi won’t be able to sign on the previous conditions, that’s impossible. But I don’t think any European club would be able to pay that amount. La Liga president Tebas said in a call with the UK media when asked if Messi would have to take a big pay cut this summer.
“City have lost €270m [during the pandemic] so obviously they wouldn’t even consider signing Messi [on his previous salary],” the La Liga chief added. “PSG have had losses, too, so they can’t even consider signing Messi [for that much]. He added.
“If they do, it will be financial doping. It would be incredible if it happened. We need to establish limits. Financial doping is damaging football. Tebas said to reporters.
“It’s not real money because it’s not generated by the clubs. Money not from football causes bad inflation and ruins football because clubs must put in all this effort [to compete], which takes them above their financial capacity.
“We have to fight against this. This is one of the pending issues in European football. If it’s not solved, the game will find itself in a very complicated situation.”
Lionel Messi is still on the road playing for Argentina’s national team in the Copa America competition. Argentina will face Brazil in the final and Messi is probably not taking calls from Barcelona right now.
As a result, if he doesn’t sign with Barcelona on time, the club may not be able to register him early enough to be eligible to play for Barca for the upcoming season. August 14, 2021, is the last day for La Liga teams to register players for the new season. The deal must be completed by then and if the club and Messi are not getting closer to a deal, this is a clear road for Pep Guardiola and Man City to come in and sign Messi.
That means Messi may be looking to sign for Man City or PSG. In an effort to prevent this from Happening. The La Liga president Tebas is already insinuating that Man City will break the financial rule to make Messi’s deal happen. He feels threatened and is probably working with Barcelona to lure Messi back to Camp Nou.
“We always want the best players, but Neymar left, Cristiano Ronaldo left and we’re still here, still growing,” he said. “And as far as I know neither Serie A nor Ligue 1 have grown as much as they would have liked. Tebas added.
“When the Italian [league] took Ronaldo, they said to me broadcast rights would go up. They have just lost €200m on international television rights and on a national level it’s 10% down. I would be sorry if Messi left, he’s the best ever, but we should not become obsessed with [individual] players.”
Barcelona’s front office and Tebas want Messi to take a pay cut when renewing his contract with Barcelona and they don’t want him to sign with another club like Manchester City, or PSG. Its going to be a long fight, but Messi will most likely rather leave La Liga, just like Neymar, and Critiano Ronaldo did.
