Lionel Messi shone on the international scene, carried in triumph by his Argentinian teammates, the captain of the Albiceleste lifted for the first time in his career the Copa América with his country.
The tournament’s top scorer, top assist, and best player of the competition. Messi left only crumbs to his competitors to end up kneeling on the lawn of the Maracanã in Rio, where he had lost the final of the 2014 World Cup, to shed tears of joy.
In Camp Nou, FC Barcelona sweated profusely throughout the competition. The reason was to secure the extension of Messi’s contract possible and downsize his workforce as much as possible.
Since the 1st July 2021, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner officially becomes a free player and despite Barça’s charming tweets, rumors about his next club began to swell seriously. Fortunately, the bad jokes have ended: yes, the G.O.A.T will put pen to paper.
Messi’s 50 % Pay Cut
On Wednesday, the Catalan daily L’Esportiu announced the details of an agreement in principle between Messi and Barça: a marriage scheduled until 2026 (two years as a player and three as a player in MLS and ambassador in the United States) where Messi would see his salary reduced by half (from 70 to 35 million euros annually) and a release clause set at 600 million euros. Damn, I’m flabberwhelmed.
A mouth-watering offer that no one will dare to spend and which testifies to the limitless love that Barcelona has for Lionel Messi. From then on, Messi’s lawyers form the last legal bulwark to the signing of the new contract by the diminutive magician.
According to Cadena SER, the themes of financial aspect or the duration of the contract have ” never been problematic ” in the progress of the negotiations.
READ ALSO | Top 5 Eccentric Footballers With Memorable Antics
Clearly, Messi understood the economic situation experienced by the club and complied with the demands of his management to participate in the collective effort to bring the wage bill into the nails of the ceiling imposed by La Liga.
For Messi, this commendable gesture towards Barca leads to a double satisfaction: that of the outside world who see La Pulga staying in Barcelona until the end of his professional career in Europe, but also that of Joan Laporta whose electoral promise to keep Messi at Barça seems held.
Antoinne Griezmann’s Charade
However, imposing a 50% cut in the Barcelona star’s emoluments is still not enough to rebalance Barça’s accounts.
To join La Liga this season, the Catalan giant must further reduce its salaries. In this, a planned exchange between Antoine Griezmann and Saúl Ñíguez seems to be on the right track.
The former employer of Griezmann, Atlético Madrid intends to welcome the Griezzy for a second stint if the latter agrees to lower his salary in accordance with those of the teammates of the colchonero locker room.
For its part, if Barça says goodbye to Griezzy and offers itself an additional midfielder, the club does so only so that Messi’s extension can be completed calmly. Messi knows that his family has happy days in the city of Gaudi and that it would be a shame not to take advantage of the arrival of his friend Sergio Agüero to combine work and pleasure.
Following a flamboyant first half of 2021 individually and historically in the collective aspect, Leo Messi will logically be one of the main candidates for the Ballon d’Or in December.
A prestigious distinction for Barça, the most awarded club in the year with 12 trophies, intends not to let go anytime soon.
From a financial point of view, Messi also generates a huge capital gain: last February, the Argentine had brought more than 235 million in profits to his employer since his last contract was initialed in 2017.
At 34 years, Messi will not be therefore never for sale. Despite this, competing clubs have waited for the Argentine to reach the final year of his contract to try to coax him. In Barça’s wheel to place an offensive, Paris Saint-Germain preferred to abandon the track and will have to do without the GOAT for the 2021-2022 season.
