Posted by Barcelona’s attempt to keep Lionel Messi could have put the club’s future in jeopardy for the next 50 years, according to president Joan Laporta. Messi, 34, is departing because the club could not afford to renew his contract due to the salary cap in La Liga.
A private equity firm offered to invest in La Liga, which would have allowed Barcelona to recruit Messi but would have required the club to give up some TV rights. “I can’t make a judgment that will have a 50-year impact on the club,” Laporta stated. “The club is over a century old, and it stands above everyone and everything, even the best player on the planet.” We will be eternally grateful to him for what he has done for us.
Messi, Barcelona’s all-time greatest goalscorer, had agreed to a new five-year contract with lower wages, but the club still needed to cut its wage bill to finance him, something it couldn’t do. “Leo wanted to stay,” Laporta explained, “so he’s not happy.” “We all wished he would stay. For him, reality must be confronted. It’s an unchangeable fact, and he knows I wish him well wherever he goes.”
The possibility of signing Lionel Messi has been explored by Paris St-Germain.
Source: Daily Mail