It was an open secret. Futbol Club Barcelona and Leo Messi have reached a pre-agreement for the renewal of the Argentine star with a new contract which will tie him to the club for the next five seasons, according to the sports daily L'Esportiu. His buy-out clause will be set at 600 million euros and the Barça club does not rule out that Messi may stay at Camp Nou for the whole five years.
The official announcement is imminent, in fact, expected on Thursday or Friday this week. The final agreement between Barça and the footballer's representative and father, Jorge Messi, was closed this Monday and now the player himself needs to validate it. Right now, he is resting in Argentina with his family after the national side was proclaimed champion of the Copa America. Winning a major title with Argentina was his major unfulfilled dream and, finally, he has his first.
Messi celebrating the victory of the Copa America / EFE
At 34 years old, Messi is in practice likely to play for Barça for two more seasons, until the end of the 2022-23 season and the World Cup in Qatar. Another of the items on the Argentinian's bucket list is to play in Major League Soccer and it seems that David Beckham's Inter Miami team could be his destination in the US championship.
Salary reduction
Messi's contract renewal also involves a pay cut. The Barça club has a delicate economic situation and president Joan Laporta and his new board of directors are making every effort to adapt to the financial fair play regime of the Spanish League. Lionel Messi will receive an amount as premium for renewing his relationship with his lifetime club and for playing the next season of about 20 million euros, says L'Esportiu. This quantity would serve to comply with the league regulations in relation to payroll.
Messi and Laporta greet each other / FCB
The amount he will be paid for the second season will be greater, and the Argentine striker also stands to receive another considerable amount if the contract is broken in 2023. In any case, the sum of all the items is less than the 200 million euros which had been reported as the total of Messi's economic package, according to L'Esportiu.
If Messi wants to continue at Camp Nou after the 2022-23 season, he will receive a smaller sum than last season, and the total which would then decline. One of the big problems for the renovation of Messi's contract was gaining the approval of the Spanish League and the Barça representatives have already presented the new document to the league body chaired by Javier Tebas and have validated it, as long as the Catalan entity continues to reduce its total salary bill. In this regard Barça sports management is about to complete an operation that could benefit both parties and that would be a swap with Atlético de Madrid: Antoine Griezmann would return to Atleti and Saúl Ñíguez would come to Catalonia.
Main image: Messi celebrating a goal with Barça / EFE