Lionel Messi has officially been a free agent for a little over a fortnight, but it appears that status is about to end. According to a report that just moved on ESPN, the Argentine galactico of all galacticos has reached an agreement that will extend his stay at the Catalan Club for another five years.
This is a hammer blow to any hopes that Manchester City have ever had to potentially signing Messi someday. While many, including Barcelona/former Man City striker Sergio Aguero, believed Messi wasn’t going anywhere, he has been linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium quite a bit in recent years.
He’ll be 39 by the time this new deal expires, so it’s highly improbable he’ll ever play for City. It’s also looking at least questionable, or at most doubtful that he plays for Inter Miami someday down the line. While it may sound like something to possibly balk at when you first hear it, there has been some substantial momentum growing that Messi will sign with David Beckham’s Major League Soccer franchise when his playing career comes to a close.
Maybe he will when he’s in his 40s? Who knows, and we’ll save that discussion for another time down the road.
ESPN FC reports that Messi will be taking a massive paycut from his last Barca deal, but that the:
“return of Joan Laporta as president in March, Messi grew more open to staying at Camp Nou. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.”
Making this deal work will require a lot of, shall we say, “fiscal agility.” Barca’s financial problems are well documented, and they’re going to have to offload some key, and perhaps name players in order to comply with Financial Fair Play requirements. La Liga President Javier Tebas has been rather outspoken about this topic– Barca will need to shed salary and cut costs, otherwise they will not be able to make the Messi extension feasible.
It appears those roadblocks have now been cleared, with the new contract set to be finalized soon.
The ESPN FC report also adds that:
“Barca’s spending limit has been reduced from over €600m to €347m since the coronavirus pandemic, with further reductions expected to be imposed for the upcoming season.”
Messi’s last deal at Barcelona was worth in excess of €500 million ($594m) over four seasons, while his net worth is estimated to be about $600m. Barcelona’s current gross debt is over €1 billion.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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