Neymar, Liverpool and Lionel Messi’s Barcelona Exit.
Here is a breakdown of how events from 2017 have shaped Lionel Messi’s Barcelona exit.
Sentence 1 — Lionel Messi’s contract expired on the 30th of June 2021. After June 30, Messi became a free agent.
Sentence 2 — A free agent is a footballer who is not associated with any club and his/her contract has expired. A free agent is one who can join a club without the club having to pay any fee to the player’s previous club.
Sentence 3— Despite his free agent status, Barcelona’s club president (Joan Laporta) desired to keep him but Barcelona couldn’t pay his high wages.
Sentence 4— Laporta and Messi have a good relationship unlike Laporta’s predecessor (Josep Maria Bartomeu) who is now facing several charges.
Sentence 5— Barcelona have a debt of over 1 billion euros. Messi earns around 100 million euros (including taxes and bonuses).
Sentence 6— Barcelona planned to offer him other incentives outside money to get him to stay and ensure their books are good. There were reports that they planned on borrowing over 500m euros to fund their operations.
Sentence 7— The La Liga (Spanish football league) have financial fair play rules so it means Barcelona had to adjust to pay Messi.
Sentence 8— But how did Barcelona get here? One of the biggest clubs in the world can’t pay again.
Sentence 9— Let’s back up a bit. In 2009, Liverpool wanted to get their first premier league title since 1990. Gerrard had that legendary slip and it was all over. Neymar was still playing in brazil as a young lad with huge prospects.
Sentence 10— Neymar and Liverpool’s league title are so connected to today’s incidents. Neymar joined Barcelona in 2013. Messi, Suarez and Neymar formed the formidable trio known as MSN.
Sentence 11— MSN flourished and went on to win a treble in one season (2014/15).
Sentence 12— In 2017, Neymar did the unthinkable and joined French football club PSG which are run buy oil money bags.
Sentence 13— Barcelona were not keen to sell but if the other club can pay the player’s buy out clause, then no problem at all. They paid 222 million euros and Neymar was their player.
Sentence 14 — Tv contracts increased and people wanted to watch Ligue 1 thanks to the Neymar signing.
Sentence 15 — Barcelona lost Neymar who many said will replace Messi as the star man. The consolation they had was that they had a lot of money from his sale.
Sentence 16 — So Barcelona spent the money to buy two big players. First was Frenchman, Ousmane Dembélé from Dortmund for over £135.5m. Dembélé cost the Dortmund, 15 m euros to sign.
Sentence 17 — At the English side, Liverpool star man, Coutinho, pushed for a move to Barcelona which cost the Spanish team £146m. Neymar’s cash had been depleted after these signings. Second player secured.
Sentence 18 — The two players didn’t live up to the money spent.
Sentence 19— Liverpool used Coutinho's money to complete the signing of defender — Virgil Van Dijk, goalkeeper — Alisson Becker and Midfielder — Fabinho. Liverpool went on to win the league (first time since 1990) and champions league, beating Coutinho’s Barcelona on their way to the UCL cup.
Sentence 20 — How do clubs make money? There is something called image rights. There is also TV rights. I might write about this in the near future if people want to know about it.
Sentence 21— Poor financial decisions got Barcelona here.
Sentence 22 —Back to Messi. Which club would Messi go to? Who can afford to pay his wages?
Sentence 23 — Messi is not just after money (he was willing to take a pay cut) but Barcelona’s ability to compete. He would go to a club he is sure they would fight for the top silverware every season.
This took a lot of work and research. I would appreciate a clap or a share. Gracias!
