On Thursday, La Liga club stated that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi will now leave Barcelona even though both parties have had reached an agreement over a new contract citing economic and structural obstacles to the renewal of the deal.
Messi, who joined Barca’s youth set-up aged 13, was free to negotiate a transfer with other clubs after his deal ran out at the end of June but Barcelona always maintained that he wanted to stay with the club. He has spent his whole career at Barcelona. He was expected to sign a new five-year deal with the Catalan club which would have included a 50% reduction of his salary.
Barcelona needed to financially restructure in order for the deal to work, which proved impossible in the end as they failed to reduce their wage bill in order and stay within La Liga’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rrgulations. La Liga chief Javier Tebas stated last month that Barcelona has a total debt of more than a billion euros and will not be shown any leniency when it comes to obeying the league’s strict financial control rules.
Barca stated, “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 the financial and structural obstacles. 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. FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life.”
