What is going on with Leo Messi’s contract?

A Messi situation.
FC Barcelona’s greatest ever player is merely days away from becoming a free agent. Here we take a look at Lionel Messi’s ongoing contract situation.

What has been going on?

Messi shook the footballing world last year when he announced his desire to leave Barcelona. The perennial malpractices of former club president Josep Bartomeu had resulted in a strained relationship with the Argentine and left the squad subpar – heaps of money pledged, yet no concrete plan. In the end, Messi had no choice left but to look elsewhere to see out his playing days.

But his request was promptly denied. In an interview he gave to Goal España in September, Messi mentioned that he had a spoken agreement in place with Bartomeu, that he would be allowed to leave at the end of the season for free should he wished. Barça then pointed out that the agreement had a deadline of June 10 which would be upheld despite the COVID delay, and since Messi’s request came in August the club (supported by LaLiga) was under no mandate to let him go; any club interested in buying Messi would have to pay his €700m buyout clause.

So that meant Messi stayed at Barça to play out the final year of his contract. Despite a transitional year for the Blaugrana, Messi won the Copa del Rey with the club, scoring 38 goals and making 11 assists in 47 goals across all competitions.

When Joan Laporta returned as Barça’s president, he, like every other presidential candidate, expressed his desire to sit down with Messi and convince him to stay, although he was cautious in his claims and remained pragmatic regarding what the club could offer him.

Now, the 2019-20 season officially ends on June 30 and with that, Messi’s contract.

What does Messi want?

Were it not for Bartomeu’s catastrophic handling of the club, Messi would have never wanted to leave. This is the club he grew up playing for. Barcelona is the city he calls home. This is where his family lives. He would never make a decision to leave lightly.

Under Ronald Koeman, despite a season far from Barça’s expected standards, Messi’s standing with the club improved. Several young additions to the squad – Pedri, Ilaix Moriba, Francisco Trincão, Sergiño Dest – were crucial to provide a positive outlook, giving the impression that the club were already back on their way up. After a turbulent summer, things began to look calmer and better.

Given the increased sense of positivity around the club and him being a family man, all signs pointed to a Messi inclined towards increasing his stay at the club.

But it won’t come cheap.

Can Barça keep Messi?

Despite wanting Messi to stay, Laporta has been very clear about the fact that the Argentine will have to agree to a significant wage cut in order to continue. He had earlier been pledged a playing salary touching €555m over a period of four years (2017-2021), making him the best-paid footballer by a country mile. This cannot be offered again.

Barça’s €1bn debt means they have very limited resources (if any) to buy players this summer. Yet, they have made free signings of Sergio Agüero, Memphis Depay and Eric García as well as the acquisition of Emerson Royal to signal to Messi their intent of building a strong, competitive squad.

There are talks of Messi being offered a two-year deal, with added assurances of a salary well after his playing career is over to make up for the deficit. The club are also planning to erect a statue of the 34-year-old outside Camp Nou.

But keeping Messi would also require Barça reduce their wage bill by at least €100m to be able to comply with LaLiga’s strict Financial Fair Play regulations. Laporta had recently aired his wish for LaLiga to show “common sense” in a COVID-hit environment, which was quickly dismissed by the league’s president, Javier Tebas.

Reducing the wage bill entails letting go of many high-profile and underperforming players currently at the club, but those exorbitant wages will also make it equally hard for these players to be offloaded. The likes of Philippe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Miralem Pjani? and Junior Firpo are well out of favour with Ronald Koeman yet enjoying hefty wages, with the likes of Sergi Roberto, Ousmane Dembélé, and Martin Braithwaite also deemed not good enough. Even starting regulars like Antoine Griezmann and Marc-Andre ter Stegen could be offered away in a fire sale.

Should Barça keep Messi?

With Messi now 34 years old, Barça are accelerating towards a life without the Argentine pulling the strings on the pitch, but they don’t look ready – emotionally or football-wise – to bid him adieu just yet. They had a chance to make money on his egress last season when both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain looked likely to offer big money for his services, but for better or worse, they chose to put their foot down and only allow him to leave (whenever that happens) on their own terms – an understandable sentiment, albeit financially ill-advised.

For both Barça and LaLiga, Messi serves as a huge magnet to bring in interest (and hence, investment) from around the world, and even at 34, he is proving to be one of the best players in the world and the Blaugrana’s chief creator and goal-scorer. That dependency on Messi, however, leaves the club vulnerable whenever he leaves, and by deciding to keep him at the club for longer they are effectively kicking responsibility of preparing life without him further down the road. That would require making better financial decisions, of which we have seen very few, so if their performances and debt situation does not improve, having to deal with Messi’s exit could prove even harder than it would have had last year or even next month, for that matter.

Verdict

The football romantics would have never wanted to even broach the subject of a Messi without Barcelona and vice versa. To provide further contrast in his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, most people would have liked Messi to end his playing career in Catalonia.

But not all stories get the perfect ending. Messi’s final act at the club is already tainted with what transpired last year, but both parties are willing to move past it and delay their separation by a few years, although it won’t be without compromises.

Messi should end up staying at Barcelona, but the very fact that club, despite being clear about wanting him stay, have yet not been able to give him a new contract with merely days remaining, shows that the intent does not match the might, and whatever happens, the club will be taking a big risk for what comes next.

Should Messi leave, both Man City and PSG, who were keen to getting Messi last year, might come back once again, but their priorities are elsewhere this time round, towards making more long-term decisions.

But you just never know.