The reason for the fight between Messi and Barcelona's president

Barcelona spent 617 million on salaries and amortizations during the 2020-2021 season. "A 103% compared to income," said president Joan Laporta; "the advisable is to be between 65% and 70%." Then, observing Barça's economic imbalance, the Professional Football League granted it, from the outset, 88 million euros to invest in first-team salaries. Even so, in the face of this discouraging panorama, Laporta went ahead with negotiations to keep Lionel Messi at Camp Nou. "We were convinced it could be done because we didn't know the numbers like we do now. Even though we had the contract drawn up and the negotiators had already shaken hands; in the end it became clear that it could not be done," Laporta assured.

According to Laporta, Messi's departure was brought forward. "We have advanced the post Messi two years," the president recounted. The idea of the club and the player was to sign a contract for two seasons. However, as the financial and tax architecture could not be fitted in, they ended up agreeing to a five-season tie, all as a player.

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It was never signed. "It had been structured one way, then another, but it didn't fit. Messi is the best player in the world and has his aspirations, as is normal, and he had offers, as we have seen, from clubs willing to pay significant amounts," Laporta added.

"Messi's time at Barça did not end the way we all wanted it to. It ended up very conditioned by economic reasons. I think that at Barça we have a moral debt with Leo Messi in this sense. We would like the end of his career to be with the Barça shirt and to be applauded by all the fields wherever he goes," reflected the president of the club about a dream that is set for 2023.

Is Messi’s relationship with Barça irreconcilable?

The relationship between both parties is surrounded by crossed versions, leaks to the press and above all by a feeling of 'betrayal' on the side of the Argentine that remains unhealed. Mundo Deportivo reports that Lionel Andrés Messi's entourage denies for the moment any rapprochement with the president who decided not to renew the '10'.