- Guillem Balague
- Spanish Football Correspondent, BBC Sports
Image source,Getty / EPA
Messi’s entire career has been playing for Barcelona before.
Now we can see with certainty that the day Barcelona once thought would never come is here.
Over 20 years, 778 games, 672 goals, 35 trophies-including 10 La Liga titles, four Uefa Champions Leagues and countless personal records and honors. After all this, Rio Lionel Messi (Messi) left Barcelona.
Even when he was packing up and preparing to go to Paris St-Germain (Paris St-Germain) to start a new life, the Catalan capital still circulated various rumors that Barcelona was about to give at the last minute. A new contract keeps him in this club. Insider sources on both sides quickly denied this claim, and it won’t happen.
These rumors began in a Catalan media, not so much a prediction as an expectation, or people still cannot accept this unimaginable reality: from now on, this Barcelona team no longer has Messi. If they can’t accept it, imagine how Messi would feel…
To understand how Messi faced himself as a six-time Ballon d’Or winner, and now preparing to live a new life in Paris, we should start with that emotional press conference. He announced there that he would leave Barcelona.
At the end of the press conference, Messi paid tribute to the recently appointed Barcelona club chairman Joan Laporta (Joan Laporta) when he was indifferent. Luying Stadium) The enthusiasm that Messi showed when they met formed a sharp contrast.
Whether on the field or off the field, concealing one’s body language has never been the strength of this Argentine football superstar.
During the whole process of this long and grueling drama of “Whether he is going or staying” was staged in Barcelona, Laporta always acted optimistically, insisting that he is very close to Messi and his relationship is very good, everything It’s going very smoothly.
At the same time, all the messages I received from Messi were equally positive, and I felt that there was great hope for an agreement. But-they said clearly-they look at all this more cautiously than the club president.
From the beginning of the campaign, Laporta insisted that not only will he persuade Messi to stay (he can do it as long as he “eat a barbecue with him”), but he is the only candidate who can do this.
So, what does he know that other candidates don’t? Because what he now knows about the financial fair play (Financial Fair Play) regulations that must be complied with, the upper limit of club operations that must be controlled is no different from what he knew at the time. Nothing has changed.
Perhaps what he doesn’t know is how big the problems he and the club face are.
As soon as he took office, he was obviously shocked by the amount of debt. He originally expected that the total debt left over from last season was about 200 million euros, but he found that it was actually close to 500 million.
However, his election as chairman will also benefit from those who have reduced their salary to ensure that their salary does not exceed 15% of the total budget. This is a rule that the new leadership must comply with. This part of the forces now holds the power of the club that is theoretically owned by season ticket holders. They don’t want to keep Messi and continue to bear huge debts.
A month and a half ago, the two men had a meal together, after which Messi felt at ease and felt that Laporta would have a way to guarantee that he would stay at the club.
Barcelona eventually produced two different contracts, one for two years and one for five years. The two parties finally shook hands to reach an agreement on a five-year contract that the club felt would definitely be approved by La Liga.
At this moment, things started to be a little messy. If you can accept this homophony, that is to say, Messi’s matter is “out of play”.
La Liga chairman Javier Tebas (Tebas) met with Laporta two or three days later. Tebas told him that they could approve Messi’s agreement, but may need a private equity. Help from Group CVC. The latter recently agreed to an agreement under which the club will inject 2.7 billion euros (2.3 billion pounds) into La Liga, in exchange for 10% of most of the league’s business, and 90% of the capital injection will go to the teams. .
The problem is that the two clubs of Real Madrid and Barcelona decided to oppose this agreement; this agreement would have brought money to the club, 15% of which-about 40 million euros-would have been used to pay salaries.
Although Laporta knew that the only way for Barcelona to keep Messi was to agree to the agreement (and he showed enthusiasm for it when he met with Tevas), he was replaced by Barcelona’s new CEO, Ferran. · Ferran Reverter persuaded that it was not in the club’s best interest to do so.
Then the situation took a turn for the worse, and Refert (the man who forgot that the club is actually in the hands of the people mentioned above) showed Laporta some numbers, which might make the new chairman’s heart cold. Based on Messi’s salary last season, the salary bill is 110% of the income. Without Messi, it is 95%.
Simply put, it is impossible.
Image source,Reuters
Messi’s large poster outside Barcelona’s home court was removed.
But for many people, the most worrying factor is not Laporta’s decision not to give Messi a new contract, but how all this was explained to Messi and his father.
Laporta admitted that he decided not to offer Messi a new contract last Tuesday, and two days later he told Jorge Messi (father and agent) that their story in Barcelona was over. Now, there are more and more clues that this decision has actually been made earlier.
Not surprisingly, Laporta accused La Liga, saying that it lacks flexibility, while insisting that the CVC investment agreement is not in the best interests of Barcelona.
But what really angered everyone and has caused one of the directors, Jaume Llopis, to resign, is that Barcelona did not make enough efforts to keep Messi — almost certainly, Messi and his The team also fully agrees with this.
In an interview with Cadena Ser on Monday, Lobis said: “I didn’t intend to cause such a commotion. I resigned to be able to freely express what many Barcelona fans think and what they require-that is transparency- This is something that has always been lacking. Even Leo himself said:’They didn’t do everything they could.'”
However, perhaps the most unforgivable news is that on the day Messi officially announced his departure, Laporta was seen in a top restaurant in Barcelona, together with him is the chairman of Real Madrid, Florentino. · Perez (Florentino Perez) and Juventus (Juventus, Zuyundas) Chairman Andre Agnelli (Andrea Agnelli, Elli), the two most eloquent and eloquent support of the controversial UEFA Super League (European Super League).
Lobis sharply criticized this: “No one can understand that when the diehards of Barcelona were crying for Messi’s departure, Laporta was enjoying a fish dinner with the chairman of Real Madrid. This depiction An unbearable image.”
From their point of view, Barcelona’s financial situation is understandable-but from Messi’s point of view, he went on vacation with confidence, thinking that everything would be resolved, and when he came back, he believed that everything was ready, just waiting for him to sign.
All this broke Messi’s heart again, and once again he felt betrayed by the club he had dedicated so much to. Barcelona had previously asked him to accept a 50% salary cut, and he hadn’t even tried to bargain, so he agreed.
In fact, a 50% pay cut is the largest reduction that can be proposed in law, so even if Messi is willing to accept a greater percentage of the pay cut, once the club agrees, it will be illegal.
After playing a successful Copa America for Argentina, he feels good. His plan is to continue his top-level career in the next two years, when he will be 36 years old. After that, he wants to end his career in Major League Soccer, and may be teammates with Cesc Fabregas (Cesc Fabregas), or he may play a big game. Inter Miami by David Beckham (David Beckham).
Although he was on vacation in Ibiza with former Barcelona teammate Neymar (Neymar), Argentina national team teammate Angel di Maria (Angel di Maria) and Leandro Paredes (Leandro Paredes, Paledius), as well as Italian star Marco Verratti (Marco Verratti, Valadi) have all met with players who played for Paris Saint-Germain, but did not decide anything at the time. Messi still fully believed He will sign with Barcelona when he returns.
Messi once thought of leaving this club in the past. In 2014, former head coach Tito Vilanova (Tito Vilanova) persuaded him not to accept the temptation of Greater Paris a few days before his death from cancer. “You won’t be as happy anywhere as you are here,” Villanova told him at the time. Messi obedient.
Two years later, when he felt that he was being unfairly harassed by the tax office, he announced that he wanted to leave the team. The point was not to leave Barcelona, but to leave Spain. Once again, he was persuaded to stay.
Then in 2020, after the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the humiliating battle, he tried to fulfil the promise of former chairman Josep Bartomeu (Josep Bartomeu) to let him leave the team at the end of the season. . The reason for the board’s back was to claim that Messi did not apply for leaving the team within the deadline. Messi’s explanation of this situation is extremely simple. “I was cheated,” he said.
Messi has experienced this before. In 2000, he came to Barcelona for only 6 months, when injuries and bureaucracy kept him from playing games. At the age of 13, he sat down with his parents, two brothers and a sister, and made the most important decision in his young life.
Messi told them that he planned to stay here-the result of this was that the family was broken up, and his brother and sister eventually returned to Rosario with his mother, and his father Jorge accompanied his son Stay in Barcelona.
Now, who is proud to be a husband and father of three sons, he does everything possible to ensure that history does not repeat itself. This is why last year he not only talked with his wife and soul mate Antonella (Antonella), but also with his children for a long time, discussing whether he should leave.
Messi was born in the smoky and overgrown Salario Salario neighborhood, but his sons Tiago (born in 2012), Mateo (born in 2015) and Shiro (born in 2018) have been Barcelona is considered home.
They cried at that time, and now they are crying, and Messi promised his family that all these moves are only temporary, and they will return to Barcelona one day.
Only now, their future lies in Paris.