The revelations of the daily El Mundo continue.
Sunday, the Spanish newspaper unveiled the "pharaonic" contract signed by Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona in the fall of 2017, offering the Argentine more than half a billion euros gross over four years in salaries and bonuses.
This Monday, supporting documents, El Mundo specifies that the six-fold Golden Ball will receive the last penny of this lease, even in the event of non-extension next June.
Barça still has to pay him 39 million euros, a sum corresponding to a loyalty bonus included in the negotiations.
In normal times, these figures would have shocked part of the population.
In times of financial crisis linked to the global health situation, they resonate throughout Spain, as far as Argentina and all over the planet.
Inordinate for some, logical for others, Messi's contract questions.
One thing is certain, it ends in five months.
At 33, the player often considered the best in history wants a last European contract.
But at what cost?
The price of 138 million euros gross per season is inaccessible to all.
It generates 250 million euros per season
Almost all of Barcelona want to see Messi finish his career in Catalonia, his region since 2000. But the Blaugrana club, weighed down by the loss of hundreds of millions of euros in revenue, does not have much leeway.
All the candidates for the club presidency (election on March 7) point out that Messi brings in more than he costs.
Its presence alone would generate more than 250 million euros per season according to various estimates.
However, the coronavirus is reshuffling all the cards: no ticket office, sponsors who move away, less important product sales ...
Barca have seen their salary limit lowered by 47% for the current season, from 656 million euros to 382 million euros for their entire squad.
And this limit could be reduced again if the crisis continues.
Keeping Messi, at this price and in this context, seems mission impossible.
PSG and Manchester City are on the lookout.
"A club like Paris must be attentive to all the options", smiles Mauricio Pochettino in this connection during an interview with RMC Sport.
But, again, the money extinguishes any hope of seeing a trio Messi, Neymar, Mbappé.
“It is impossible for PSG to extend its two stars and recruit Messi.
Or he comes voluntarily, ”announces a major player in the market.
This is the whole lesson of El Mundo's revelations: wherever he goes, the Argentine will have to lower his financial ambitions.
How much is the only question that matters.