Lionel Messi is the highest paid footballer in the world, earning nearly $ 160 million annually before the announcement of FC Barcelona

Photo: David Ramos / Getty Images

FC Barcelona announced this Thursday through its social networks that Lionel Messi, from 34 years, he would become a free agent after the cash-strapped club couldn’t find a way to pay off his bulky salary and keep it inside of Spanish football.

It is believed that Messi’s annual salary is close about $ 410 million dollars , according to a copy of his most recent contract that was leaked to the Spanish press in June . The newspaper The World revealed that the four-year contract with Messi is valued at about $ 673. 8 million dollars , according to a copy of the contract that the player signed in November 2017.

Messi’s salary is close to $ 10 million dollars a month , almost double the amount that Cristiano Ronaldo receives from Juventus in Turin, which is considered the second highest paid soccer player in the world receiving more than $ 5.3 million dollars a month , according to a report by Statista .

Thank you, Leo pic.twitter.com/zQDFiDUK47

– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) August 5, 2021

LaLiga regulations, where the first division teams of Spanish football play, are designed to maintain the sustainability of clubs by limiting the salaries of their players to a percentage of their income . However, FC Barcelona recently contracted a debt of more than $ 1, 000 millions of dollars to be found in the economic crisis more depth of recent times and it is expected that this Friday its president Joan Laporta will explain the situation at a press conference from the Camp Nou auditorium.

“Despite having reached an agreement with Messi and with the clear will of both parties to sign a new contract, it cannot be finalized due to financial and structural problems, ”said the football club in a statement.

“Faced with this situation, Messi will not continue his relationship with Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club cannot be fulfilled. ”

The financial problems of FC Barcelona

Barça’s spending exceeded $ 700 million dollars before the coronavirus pandemic , but dropped to $ 410 million dollars last season and is expected to be further reduced next season.

Messi tried to leave Barça last summer after arguing with the club’s previous president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, but ended up staying against his will. He believed that a clause in his contract allowed him to leave for free , but Barça said it was not So. Before the start of a legal battle Messi backed down and continued in the football club.

Carlos Tusquets, interim president of Barcelona, ​​responded in November 2021 by the first time a question about the Argentine’s salary and stated that “ We cannot tailor suit for Lionel Messi salary ”.

In June Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, revealed that of about $ 1200 million dollars in losses for the season 2020 – 21, half were from Barcelona , saying that “Barça has exceeded its salary cap”. Then Thebes warned: “I hope they can keep Messi, but for that they will have to make cuts elsewhere.”

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Messi, the boy with a disorder in his bone structure

Messi has belonged to FC Barcelona since he was a child. It was at the age of eleven when the doctor diagnosed him with a disorder with growth hormone that caused a delay in his bone age so he had to receive a daily dose of synthetic somatotropin to combat it, as described by the writer Leonardo Faccio, in his book “ Messi, the boy who was always late “. Facció tells that Jorge Messi had to invest about $ 1, 000 dollars per month for your child to receive injectable treatment, more than half of what Leo’s father earned back then.