For most of July, many felt Barcelona and Lionel Messi had come to terms. A deeper look revealed the deal on the table required Barca to make incredible changes to resign who many believe is the greatest soccer player of all time. Late last week, Barcelona president Joan LaPorte said the Spanish Primer Division team wouldn’t resign Messi. Why did things fall apart and what happens now? Check out our Soccer Betting update.
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President Joan LaPorte: No player bigger than Barcelona
Early Sunday morning, in a tearful press conference, Lionel Messi said it all.
Per the Argentinian legend, “I did everything I could to stay and it wasn’t possible. I offered to reduce my salary by 50% and Barca didn’t ask for anything else. They didn’t ask for another 30%. That’s a lie.”
From the beginning, LaPorte, who still has dreams of creating a Super League with Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, etc., used Messi for better terms with LaLiga President Javier Tebas.
Tebas tweeted over the weekend that he had met with LaPorte. “We had dinner with Joan LaPorte on 14 July, the topic of CVC was spoken about and documentation handed over to the Barcelona executives, they explained the agreement reached with Messi. Enthusiasm in abundance. The Super League that is worth a Leo.”
CVC is a private equity firm. Their investment should generate 2.7 billion euros for La Liga clubs. La Liga recently signed a deal with ESPN.
LaPorte had hoped to use the Messi signing for better terms. Barca is in serious debt and LaPorte believes that because they have Messi, they deserve more money than what Tebas offered on July 14.
So, LaPorte saying Messi wouldn’t sign with Barcelona last week may have been a gambit. Unfortunately, the risk may not pay off.
Messi set to sign a 2-year deal with PSG
In Messi’s press conference, someone asked the star player about Paris Saint-Germain. Messi said that the French Ligue 1 club has already approached him.
Details have emerged about the deal. It’s for 2-years and reunites Messi with Brazil’s best player, Neymar.
beIN sports owns the rights to broadcast Ligue 1 matches in the United States. Amazon Prime will broadcast 8 matches from 2021 through 2024. Amazon, because they’re the richest company on the planet, could decide to add matches during Messi’s 2-year contract in Paris.
LaPorte may have overplayed his hand regarding the Messi signing. Or, maybe, Barca is in a worse financial situation than anybody knows.
If Lionel was willing to take a 50% pay cut, and Tebas had terms on the table at the July 14 dinner that LaPorte agreed to but still didn’t sign Lionel, Barcelona could be in trouble.
If Messi ends up in Paris, expect dominos to fall
A possible Kylian Mbappe move to Real Madrid isn’t dead yet. If Messi does leave, and it seems more than probable he will, La Liga will do whatever it takes to land a star player.
Ronaldo appears set to play out his contract at Juventus. Lukaku may end up at Chelsea. Sancho went from Dortmund to Man City. Once the ink is dry on Messi’s Paris contract, expect Real to find some way to make a deal with PSG for Mbappe.
Also, don’t be surprised if Paul Pogba ends up on a La Liga squad Real may even try to grab Erling Haaland from Dortmund before Bayern makes a play for the Norwegian striker.
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