The history that never ends: A new millionaire loss suffered by Barcelona after the departure of Lionel Messi

Barcelona not only lost a lot in football with the departure of the most important player in its history. Despite the fact that it would have had to invest a significant sum to retain him, he also squandered multimillion-dollar sponsorship offers for having opened the door to him. This was revealed by EFE, who confirmed data and numbers of the 130 million euros that Barça refused to pocket with two advertising proposals.

Joan Laporta reportedly had contacts with an Indian company linked to online education that offered € 58 million plus a 15% bonus based on the team's results for the season. The contract included collaborations with the Barcelona academies and with the department of technological innovation of the culé entity (called Barça Innovation Hub), but fundamentally it was due to the appearance of the name and logo on the front of the shirt from the 2022 season / 2023.

Of the 40 million euros that the Asians offered at the beginning, the Blaugrana board of directors demanded € 60 million, in a negotiation that was about to close in May but was postponed until August, when the departure of the Astro Rosario. That was the breakdown of the deal, since the company stood with the amount and there was no going back.

Two years ago, the board of directors chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu had analyzed the transfer of sponsorship rights to an investment fund that belongs to the government of Saudi Arabia in exchange for 100 million euros and that idea could be revived. Although there is a controversy: in one of the last assemblies the inclusion of the commitment to fight against gender discrimination, homophobia, sexism and racism in the club's statutes was approved, values that would not fit with the customs and religion of the Saudis.