08/25/2020 - 19:19
- Clarín.com
- sports
The French newspaper Le Monde is not very interested in football. But on its digital cover it announces the news that moves French fans, alongside one of President Donald Trump. It gives Paris Saint Germain hope, where the Argentine attacker has many of his friends. "Lionel Messi has announced to FC Barcelona his intention to leave the club," titled the most famous afternoon in France.
"Is it that Messi's next destination will be PSG, who has his eyes on his close friend, Uruguayan Luis Suarez, and where Neymar, his big Brazilian brother, plays? Is it that the last years of your career will be spent in Paris, with roasts and that atmosphere of great community that existed in Barcelona, before the bad vibes and the worst streak arrived, and that today they have managed to recreate at PSG? " asks the French newspaper.
After the loss to Bayern Munich, Qatari millionaires Paris Saint Germain are one of the few who can face the costs of Messi's abysmal transfer. Although they cannot buy anyone else to replace Edinson Cavani or Thiago Silva, who have already left the club.
At least, if their lawyers fail to convince the Catalans that the clause to leave freely expired on June 30, and lasts until August 31 due to the exceptional nature of the pandemic unleashed by the coronavirus. Otherwise, everything would be easier for the owners of the petrodollars who send PSG.
Eleven days after the humiliating defeat of Barcelona against Bayern Munich by 8 to 2 and just 24 hours after the new coach Ronald Koeman announced in a one-minute telephone conversation to his close friend Luis Suarez that he was dispensing with him, after A glorious career at Barça, Messi decided his anger and disappointment in the middle of the holidays, with the Uruguayan's family at their country home in the Pyrenees . He notified the club by fax, through his lawyers, of his intention to leave and terminate his contract "unilaterally".
Bye. Lionel Messi slammed the door and unilaterally left Barcelona. Photo: AFP / Josep Lago.
The "timming" Messi for Barcelona goodbye is not only the humiliation of the defeat of the 8 to 2 against Bayer Munich. It is the vendetta of an undisputed person for the way in which his best friend was left aside without thanks and without a single call from the president of the Barcelona club when it came to putting him aside. It is a censure of his leadership and his style: a rejection of a state of things that happened and continues to occur in the culé club .
At the age of 33, a hyper billionaire, Messi can indulge in gestures of dignity and solidarity. It is the best in the world. Manchester City, Manchester United, Inter and PSG will dispute their goals before the end of their careers. He won six Ballons d'Or, took him ten times to Barcelona to win the Spanish championship and four times to the Champions League.
Although in the personal interview with the coach, Messi told Koeman that he felt "more outside than inside the club", the Suarez case was the last straw. The leaks to the press of his private conversation with the coach, the farewell by phone - without any consideration from Barcelona and his coach to his friend Suarez after being a super scorer - simply accelerated his decision not to participate in this new stage . Not being part of a club that has started "cleaning up" the old cracks to clean up its finances and get cheaper young values. Suarez, Rakiti, Umtiti, Vidal are on the list of those thrown out, all with the same methods. Leo lost control of the wardrobe and did not feel like starting over.
It will not be easy to negotiate with the Catalans and Messi knows it. He grew up there. He knows like few others his mentality, his mercantile cunning and he has a good part of his investments there. A legal battle may be at the door , but if the clause of 700 million euros that Barcelona demands for him to leave is in force, there are not many who can pay it. The petrodollars of PSG can achieve this "miracle" , even if the pandemic forces savings and not ostentation.
A Barcelona fan wearing Lionel Messi's 10 shirt can't believe it. Photo: Reuters / Nacho Doce.
Messi has a clause that states that he can leave each year off at the end of the season. A clause that could activate until June 30 of this year. The club considers that that date has passed and that this clause has expired. For Barcelona, his contract is valid until June 30, 2021. But faced with this atypical season due to the scourge of the coronavirus, Messi demands to be released from his contract now claiming that the season ends in August. Legal interpretation issues ...
It is the first step for the opening of a negotiation for his exit, going through the release clause that reaches 700 million euros. He wants to play the clause of going free. In 2017, Neymar had used that clause (which amounted to 222 million euros) to leave Barça and join PSG. History can repeat itself.
At PSG the silence is total . They are still "on spiritual and psychological retreat" after the defeat in the Lisbon final. Its leaders are interested in signing Suarez, who can also return to Ajax in the Netherlands. But Messi is his most expensive dream. In Barcelona, rumors say that his salary reaches 71 million euros gross, without premiums.
Few will be able to pay that fortune. One is Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola, who transformed La Pulga into a star at Barcelona. There he would meet other of his friends: Sergio Aguero, his other great crony in the National Team, as well.
Luis Figo, with the Real Madrid shirt, facing Luis Enrique, from Barcelona. Other times ... Photo: EFE / Paco Campos.
Manchester United and Inter Milan could also pay Messi his salary, the latter through their Chinese investor Suning. Some say that talks with Inter are already "well advanced". But there is another audacious interested: Real Madrid. This alternative would already be as bloody as a bullfight.
But it is not the first time that it happens. 20 years ago the Portuguese Luis Figo left Barcelona for Real Madrid, the Catalan archrival. He played five seasons, with 164 games and 38 goals. But he earned the nickname "pesetero" . "When you don't feel that you are recognized for what you are doing, if you have a proposal from another club, you think about it," the Portuguese said recently. Any resemblance to the reality that Messi lives today is pure coincidence.
PARIS. Correspondent
JCH.
