After Barca could not re-sign
Messi due to being over La Liga's wage cap limits - the same reason
they can't register any of their new signings either - it is thought that this is the minimum figure the Catalan's still own their greatest player ever. They are having an utter shocker and have been for some time.
https://twitter.com/Millar_Colin/status/1425472204221915138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1425472204221915138%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportbible.com%2Ffootball%2Fnews-barcelona-still-have-to-pay-lionel-messi-39-million-despite-psg-move-20210812
This comes from
El Mundo's Colin Millars, who notes that Messi's last contract at Barca included an eye-watering €72 million bonus to mark his unparalleled contributions to the club. Now while that is true, it seems like yet more ill-thought-out business from the Spanish giants; I mean, it's not as if their financial troubles haven't been rumbling on for some time.
Former president, Josep Maria Bartomeu - whom Messi is well-known to not have had a great relationship with - had initially arranged for it to be paid in two different instalments. The first sum was due in June 2020, with the second following a year later, but who knows what they can actually pay at the minute.
He claimed that he did not receive the loyalty bonus that was part of his deal, as is the case with Messi, and the dispute was ultimately taken to court in order to reach an agreement. It's unlikely that Messi will do the same - he did offer to take a 50 per cent pay cut after all - but he's still right to expect some serious windfall given all he has done for the club.
As if losing him to
PSG wasn't bad enough, without having the GOAT in their team, they are now
expected to take a serious hit in terms of shirt sales, sponsorships and drawing in fans in general. In case you needed it ramming home any further, losing Messi is just about the worse thing that could have happened to Barca -
at least in the manner they did, anyway.
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