Messi's departure and what it means for Barcelona
Tue, Aug 10.21
The day we thought would never come finally has, Messi is leaving his boyhood club Barcelona. He wants to stay, Barcelona wants to keep him but the financial situation at Barcelona means he has to go.
New regulations in Spanish football mean the wage bill of a club can not exceed 70% of the club's revenue. If Messi were to take a 50% wage cut which was verbally agreed, Barcelona would be sitting at 110% of revenue, even with him gone Barcelona are rumoured to have a wage bill of 95% of revenue. Messi also can’t accept anything less than a 50% wage cut due to Spanish employment law. A culmination of mismanagement and COVID's impact on revenue has left the club in disarray. In short, the financial situation at Barcelona is a disaster and will most likely not end here.
Barcelona have spent over €1 billion (1.6 billion AUD) on transfer fees since 2014 and have tried to move on some of these big signings. Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann all cost over €100 million (190 million AUD).
All of a sudden the greatest player ever is a free agent. There are really only two clubs that could make a move for the Argentinian and with Manchester City already signing Grealish and continuing to be linked with Harry Kane, it appears as though we’ll see Lionel presented at the Eiffel Tower ahead of his move to PSG sooner rather than later. The situation brings to light why Barcelona were so keen on the proposed European Super League, which would have protected them financially.
Even if Barcelona somehow come to an agreement with La Liga which sees him stay, the club would still be a mess and as sad as it is, it might be best for the club to let him go. The departure of Messi sees an opportunity for players like Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann to finally recapture the form which led the club to spend so heavily in the first place.
There is also a massive opportunity for Barceona to return to its roots and go back to where Messi came from, the La Masia academy. Barcelona’s academy produced the likes of; Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Arteta, Fabregas, Icardi, Busquets, Pep Guardiola and many more. Before the massive transfer fees, Barcelona were a club which identified and produced world class talent like no other club could.
Although Messi leaving will hurt the club emotionally and footballing wise in the short term, it may be a blessing in disguise and allow the club to focus on a more sustainable route to success in the long term.
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