Even if he left FC Barcelona in the summer of 2021, Lionel Messi remains an employee of the Catalan club which continues to pay him money.
Time flies and it has now been two and a half years since Lionel Messi was kindly pushed out by the management of his former club FC Barcelona. Asked to look elsewhere in the summer of 2021, the Argentinian had at the time found refuge at Paris Saint-Germain, one of the very few clubs to be able to offer him the salary he wanted at the time. Now gone to Inter Miami, the 2022 world champion is nevertheless still financially linked to Barça.
The Spanish press recalled on Wednesday that the Blaugrana club still had arrears to pay to its former figurehead. Sport thus explained that salary deferrals negotiated during the COVID-19 period were still being paid to Lionel Messi to this day. Enough to further weigh down the finances of FC Barcelona which cannot manage to get out of the financial crisis in which it has found itself for several years now.
Substantial payroll
The situation is all the more complicated because Lionel Messi is not the only one to receive money from a club that he left for a while. The Iberian media notably cited the names of Jordi Alba and Sergi Busquets. Barça also repays its debts to Frenkie de Jong and Nikola Mirotic. Sport clarified that all of Barcelona’s spending makes it the second biggest spending European club in terms of payroll. The figure of more than 300 million euros was mentioned, certainly far behind the 505 million euros of a PSG at the top of the ranking in this regard, but still worrying for the future.
To try to lighten its slate, Barça seeks and sometimes finds solutions. From a sporting point of view, a possible qualification for the quarter-finals of the Champions League would be a good idea. After drawing Wednesday evening in Naples (1-1), Xavi’s men will try to validate their ticket at home on March 12. Enough to bring more money into the coffers at the end of the season and continue to reimburse Lionel Messi.
