That's very neat isn't it?Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of Spanish LaLiga regulation on players’ registration.
As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled.
La Liga rules limit each club’s spending to a percentage of club revenue, and league officials had repeatedly said they would not weaken their rules to accommodate Barcelona, which was far over that limit. Barcelona was told it would need to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in obligations before it would be allowed to register any new players, including Messi, for next season. (Barcelona’s decision to allow Messi’s contract to run out means he was registered as a new signing, instead of a renewal, which might have been easier.)
The club has spent lavishly in recent years. Messi’s most recent four-year deal, if he met every clause and condition, was worth almost $675 million. With the pandemic resulting in a drastic reduction in revenues, the club’s spending became untenable. In July it was reported that the player and the team had found a way for him to stay, with a five-year extension, but the conditions put forth by La Liga were not able to be met.
Less than a club.Bartomeu really knackered Barca.
Messi’s move...highlighted how Gulf riches have so altered modern soccer’s economics that even some of the world’s biggest, richest and best-supported clubs are now no match for state-sponsored teams in the arms race to acquire the most elite players.
His next destination was in many ways a question of which of two Gulf-royalty-backed teams he would choose.
Would it be Manchester City, owned by a brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, one of the few clubs willing and able to spend freely in the era of the coronavirus pandemic? Or would it be P.S.G., the star-laden French champion financed by Qatar, a club that, like City, appears immune from a financial crisis that has shaken the global soccer economy?