Barcelona Lionel Messiโs contract expires, making him a free agent | Video
Lionel Messiโs contract expires, making him a free agent, has โincreased the degree of urgencyโ in contract discussions, according to Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague, with the goal of announcing a new two-year agreement before the start of July.
โNew president Joan Laportaโs top priority is Messiโs contract renewal, which he is presently discussing directly with Messiโs father and representative, Jorge Messi,โ he added.
โTo keep the Argentine, the club will have to cut its salary bill by about 200 million euros (ยฃ172 million) to comply with La Ligaโs Financial Fair Play regulations.
โMessi is aware of other teamsโ interest but has yet to reach an agreement with them.
The 34-year-old has been linked with transfers to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, where he would rejoin with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, as well as Major League Soccer in the United States.
He is presently in Brazil for the Copa America, where he became Argentinaโs most-capped player when he made his 148th appearance against Bolivia on Tuesday, scoring two and setting up another in a 4-1 victory.
The ticking clock you could hear around the globe of soccer is the countdown to Lionel Messiโs Barcelona contract expiring.
The greatest soccer player in history will officially become a free agent at midnight on Wednesday.
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Despite the fact that sports contracts are usually kept secret, Messiโs was leaked, showing that the Barcelona superstar earned a stunning $674 million over the course of four years.
Messiโs contract situation has been in the spotlight for the second year in a row.
Last season, he attempted to exploit a contentious release provision that would have allowed him to end his contract one year early.
The main issue around a Messi contract extension has always been whether the Catalan club could afford to pay Messi what he could earn elsewhere while still spending enough to assemble a championship-caliber squad around him.
The clubโs financial difficulties have been widely known, with a team already laboring under the weight of its excessive expenditure being further weakened by the coronavirus pandemicโs obstacles.
Due to the clubโs โฌ1.2 billion debt, it has been forced to sell the wages of veterans such as Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic over the previous several years while attempting to replace their productivity.
The timeline of Lionel Messiโs transfers
August 25, 2020 โ Messi sends the club fax stating that he intends to activate a provision in his contract that allows him to depart for free immediately.
September 4th, 2020 โ Messi claims he will stay at Barcelona because any team would find it โimpossibleโ to pay his 700 million euro (ยฃ624 million) release clause, which the club insists must be satisfied.
The date is October 27, 2020.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigns after a spat with Lionel Messi over a rejected transfer request.
28th of December, 2020 Messi says he aspires to play in the United States one day, but he is unclear about his future once his current deal expires.
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