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Lionel Messi: the 550 million man
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Supa / ZUMA Wire / imago images
How much is a goal like that worth?
That was the question of the evening in Barcelona.
You will hear them like this more often in the near future, now that Lionel Messi's salary is documented down to the last cent.
On the day of the unveiling, the six-time world footballer twisted a wonderful free kick into the net in a 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao.
His FC Barcelona rose to second place in the table, ten points behind the infallible Atlético Madrid.
But at least: the best Barça news in a long time.
So how much?
72.15 million euros annual fixed salary plus a number of bonuses, loyalty bonuses (77.93 million) and signing fees (115.22 million)?
The figures published on Sunday by the newspaper "El Mundo" result in the maximum sum of 555,237,619 euros for four years - by far the highest salary in world sporting history.
Messi can't get the full amount because of a few missed titles, but he has already secured over 500 million.
It should be added that the last tranche was largely deferred due to the club's financial problems.
The gigantic numbers don't come out of the blue.
As early as the beginning of 2018, based on the "Football Leaks", SPIEGEL demonstrated how Messi now earned over 100 million euros a year at Barça.
But this time the uproar is much bigger.
Because the confidential document must have been leaked to the press from one of the contract parties, probably from FC Barcelona.
And because Messi could now have one more important reason to run away from Barça's ongoing crisis.
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Nothing disturbs the reserved Argentine more than the public pillory.
Until the epochal Barça chaos began a year ago, he had initially thought about saying goodbye to the club: When he was charged, tried and finally convicted of tax evasion.
"At that time I was considering going," he told Rac1 radio station in autumn 2019.
"I felt very badly treated."
"The Pharaonic Treaty of Messi that ruins Barça"
So you can imagine how the publication of his employment contract went down with him.
The football king stands there bare: as greedy, yes, outrageous.
Because the moment of disclosure suggests an association with Barça's debt crisis.
Times have changed since Messi's advisor father Jorge had an agreement that had already been made improved in 2017 because the club had now received 222 million euros from the departure of Neymar.
Today the Catalans are in trouble with 1.173 billion, as their annual report admitted last week.
731 million of which are short-term debt.
And so "El Mundo" delivered the steep thesis on the research in large letters: "The Pharaonic Treaty of Messi, which ruined Barça", the Madrid newspaper headlined its Sunday edition under the monster number of 555,237,619.
The end?
Messi was silent on Sunday as is his custom.
When he tried to quit last summer out of sporting frustration, there was a lot of talk about Manchester City.
Now he is allegedly learning French because Paris Saint-Germain is said to be the favorite.
Does Barça's future president, who can only be elected on March 7th after being postponed because of the Covid restrictions, have a chance to keep him?
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Forget worries for a moment: Messi scored against Bilbao
Photo: ALBERT GEA / REUTERS
The timing - normally it would have been voted last Sunday - makes the question of who and why the contract was made public all the more sensitive.
According to media information from the Messi camp, it is assumed that only five people in the club knew the papers: ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned in autumn, executive director Òscar Grau - the undersigned for the club - and the president of the current transitional commission , Carles Tusquets, and two other people.
Messi is now considering taking legal action against this quintet because of the disclosure of confidential content.
Against "El Mundo" anyway.
Barcelona announce legal action
Barça has already announced legal steps.
On Sunday the club "categorically denied any responsibility" for the publication and assured Messi "absolute support against any attempt to discredit his image."
That of Barça itself has long been at its lowest value.
Day after day the fans wake up with new inexplicable things from their club's intrigues.
Administrator Tusquets is increasingly moving into the twilight, who - according to critics - is using the debt and corona pandemic as an excuse to postpone the elections and conduct politics himself.
On Friday, an internal report from sports director Ramón Planes to Tusquets landed on TV3.
It recommends players like Samuel Umtiti for sale.
About the central defender it is said that he is no longer of great use due to his susceptibility to injury.
The club has now torpedoed the market value of a player that it is hoping to surrender - who gives such information in circulation?
Planes denies it.
Tusquets, on the other hand, has been trying for days to enforce the immediate signing of central defender Eric García from Manchester City.
Planes' inventory provides the arguments for this.
In view of the empty coffers, however, two of the three presidential candidates refuse to approve a transfer;
especially since García will be available for free in summer.
"Messi brings a lot more than it costs."
Favorite by choice Joan Laporta
Tusquets had already announced in December that he had personally let Messi go.
In fact, there would now be around 75 million euros less in expenses plus, if necessary, the receipt of a transfer fee.
But maybe even more debt?
Experts estimate Messi's contribution to be at least 20 percent of the club's turnover, which was 855 million euros annually.
Because whether with sponsors or test match opponents, there are always two tariffs: with Messi or without Messi.
"Messi didn't ruin us"
"Messi brings a lot more than it costs," says election favorite Joan Laporta.
His rival Víctor Font responded to the “Mundo” headline: “Messi didn't ruin us.
On the contrary."
It is practically common sense in Barcelona that the blame for their mutual relegation in recent years lay with incompetent club management, but by no means with Messi.
However, Messi's frequent calls for a "winning project" also drove his submissive bosses to give up all common sense on the transfer market.
And the snowball effect of his luxury salary ensured that other professionals were overpaid outside the market.
The result could hardly be more delicate at the beginning of February 2021.
The club is broke, Messi snubbed and Ronald Koeman has to be the club's spokesman in the absence of a president.
"If someone from the club launched that, they mustn't have a future here," said the coach: "There are bad intentions behind it."
When Messi's free-kick against Bilbao went into the net, the radio station Cadena Ser commented ironically: "This guy is a ruin." It was his 650th goal for FC Barcelona.
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