Barcelona have announced recently that Lionel Messi will officially leave Barcelona despite both parties have reached an agreement over a new contract, the La Liga club said on Thursday. They also citing economic and also structural obstacles to the renewal of the deal. Lionel Messi has been a free agent since his previous terms got expired on the 30th of June.
ESPN revealed in July that a loose agreement over a five-year extension had been reached. Barcelona is very upset when an agreement could not be reached because of these new rules of La Liga which sets a salary limit for a club. Barcelona would like to thank Messi from the Argentine-born player and wish Messi the best of luck.
Picture: The Guardian
Barcelona needed to financially restructure in order to get the deal over the line, 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) regulations. Barcelona, which has a total debt of more than $1.18 billion, would not be shown any leniency when it comes to obeying the league’s strict financial control rules.
Questions arise over the future of Lionel Messi but these are several potential clubs that he might go next:
1) Paris St Germain
Paris St Germain, managed by Messi’s compatriot Mauricio Pochettino, reached out immediately after it was announced that he was leaving Barcelona. Seeing as Neymar’s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 is one of the major factors that led to the start of Messi’s unraveling unhappiness at Barcelona, Messi signing for the French giants could make this saga turn full circle.
2) Manchester City
It is arguably the most logical and one of the more realistic clubs that Messi could sign for next. Lionel Messi would be reunited with his former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola. Manchester City is understood to be one of the few clubs that are in the financial position to actually sign the Barcelona superstar.
3) Inter
Inter have long been interested in the Barcelona striker, even going as far as trying to sign him in the year of 20o8. What is more is that former Inter director Massimo Mirabelli suggested that there is still a high chance of the transfer happening by saying, “I can assure you that Messi is more than a dream for Inter”. Inter would be ready to splash out a four-year deal for Messi and are prepared to make him the highest-paid player in Italy, ahead of Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sources: Give Me Sport, FC Barcelona.
