Messi announcing his exit from Barcelona hurt his fans but did you know the reason behind the exit?
Lionel Messi, a once-in-a-decade kind of footballer, is someone who not only the younger generation looks up to but even brands and clubs want to collaborate with has taken an exit from Barcelona, breaking the hearts of many of his fans.
The club as well as the players, both are iconic and that essentially led people to believe that this combination would never fail and according to statistics, it indeed ever failed but when it comes to personal commitments, things may have spoiled. Barcelona could not hold onto one of the best players playing for the club and eventually, Messi took the call to end the deal and bid goodbye to the club.
To realize that Messi joined the club at the mere age of 13 is even harder as his commitment and faithfulness to the game was beyond commendable and the sporting sensation was bound to feel hurt by the call. The 34-year-old will now be joining Paris Saint-Germain, which is also a European club.
It will be a difficult job for anyone to sum up the greats of his career till now with Barcelona but to think of 35 trophies which include 10 league titles and four UEFA champions league crowns, is a great achievement on its own. As per the statement given by the club officials, it is due to financial reasons why they could not retain Messi for another term.
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The player talked about his wish to continue with Barcelona saying that he would have even accepted a pay cut up to 50 percent but as it turns out, the European club could not even afford half of his salary.
“We had everything agreed, but at the last minute, it couldn’t happen. This year I wanted to stay and I couldn’t. Last year I didn’t want to stay, and I said so,” Messi said during the press conference.
As unfair as it may sound but both tehpartoes wished to extend their contract with each other but due to LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play rules, which are also the strictest among the sporting bodies, Barcelona could not afford Messi. The rules state, Barcelona’s wage-to-turnover percentage has to be 70 percent.
Laporta criticized the previous board saying that they have inherited a terrible financial structure from them. Because of the mess that was created two years ago, Barcelona cannot re-sign Messi even if he agrees to play for free. When Messi plays for the club, the wage-to-turnover percentage reaches 110 percent but without him, it stays below 95 percent.
Currently, there are not a lot of clubs that can afford the player. One of them, however, is PSG and there might be some arrangements already in place to unveil the news in a grand way. As for the LaLiga rules, many have gone on to criticize it and with Messi’s exit, it rose further. Even Real Madrid came forward to criticize the rule just after the exit of Messi.
