The effect of Lionel Messi's departure on Barcelona: how much sponsors offer with or without him?

Lionel Messi's departure from Barcelona will be talked about for a very long time. He has spent all his life since moving to Europe at the club where he had gone on to become the club's greatest player and arguably the world's greatest player.

Lionel Messi's presence at Barcelona for years was an undue advantage over other clubs both on the pitch with his excellent performances as well as how much commercial he can pull for the club with ticket sales, merchandise sales and how much his image makes for the club.

According to a leaked report of Messi's contract by El Mundo, it was reported that Messi made £310m for Barcelona per season while he was paid about £71m as salary per season. His departure has certainly dropped the club's revenue, most notably ticket sales dropping by almost 50% early in the season and merchandise sales dropping by 80%.

Barcelona's shirt sponsorship with Rakuten ends by the end of the season. It is worth €100m per season and the Japanese brand will not renew mostly due to Messi's departure and the best offer Barcelona have gotten so far is €55m which represents a 45% drop in the revenue.