The story of the season ... the departure of Messi and the "club in debt"
The departure of Lionel Messi could bring hundreds of millions of euros to Barcelona, the financially troubled runners-up of the Spanish soccer league, a gain that is likely indispensable to begin rebuilding the "Blaugrana" home.
On the one hand, a player who costs Barcelona more than 100 million euros annually, and can bring him more money in the event of a transfer, with the activation of the termination clause between them, which is set at 700 million euros.
On the other hand, a team complaining of a deficit of 200 million euros since the outbreak of the "Covid-19" epidemic, with a net debt of nearly 200 million euros since 2019, which obtained a loan of 140 million euros for five years from an American investment fund to help it pay off its debts.
The calculation is simple.
Fans do not want the Argentine "flea" to go away, but his move could be a real economic and sporting starting point for the Barcelona reconstruction project.
"I love Messi a lot, but I love Barcelona more," former club president Joan Gaspar said last week, adding, "The club is the captain, not the player. If he leaves Messi for less than that mentioned in the termination clause, it will be more." Insult from losing 2-8 "to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals on August 14th.
New coach, new sporting director, the Camp Nou stadium renovation project kicked off in the spring and the club's presidential elections have been submitted to March 2021 ... But what to do with Messi's "economic burden"?
The talented Argentine player is paid an annual salary of more than 100 million euros (including bonuses), according to the leaks of "Football Leaks" in 2018. Almost twice the salary of Brazilian star Neymar, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain, France for 222 million euros in a year. 2017, when he gets paid about 52 million euros a year in the French capital's team.
"They negotiated, agreed and smiled." So Xavier Bush, the Barcelona specialist journalist, urged in a column for Mundo Deportivo on Tuesday, urging everyone to "act smart."
Barcelona economist and specialist in football and club Juan Maria Gay de Libana told AFP that "there was a lot of talk about the fact that Barcelona had very high pay scales (542 million euros in 2018-2019), but a large part of that amount was Dedicated to + Leo + and (Uruguayan) Luis Suarez. "
"Barcelona has the highest turnover of the major European clubs. Its total turnover is 854 million euros. The main part of its income comes from marketing (381 million euros) and television rights (298 million euros), so it is clear that the departure of" Leo "Messi will adversely affect him. On Barcelona numbers. "
And he notes that without Messi, Barcelona's sponsorship contracts (55 million euros a year with Rakuten, 19 million euros a year with Pico) could decline, wondering if there will always be a lot of tourists to buy a ticket to attend the Camp Nou and get the legendary number 10 shirt as a souvenir .
Consequently, the departure of the six-time Ballon d'Or winner for the best player in the world (accompanied by the possible departure of Luis Suarez, who is not part of the new Dutch coach Ronald Koeman's plans for the 2020-2021 season, according to the media) will affect the marketing income of Barcelona, but it will greatly reduce the The mass of salaries in the club.
With an additional 100 million euros in their lockers annually and a star (lining up the club) less in the locker rooms, Barcelona led by Coman will definitely be able to start rebuilding the team, a few weeks after the club reached rock bottom against Bayern (2-8).
After the failures of the newcomers in recent seasons (Frenchman Osman Dembele for 138 million euros in 2017, Brazilian Felipe Coutinho for 145 million euros in 2018, and the other Frenchman Antoine Griezmann for 120 million euros in 2019), the Blaugrana club can strongly enter the transfer market to sign a player Or two international caliber in the offensive line, strengthening the two center-back in his defense, which are his most prominent direct goals in the transfer period.
Koeman, who took over his duties on August 19 to paint the new face of Barcelona, succeeding Quique Setien, who was dismissed from his post, can start his ambitious project on a whiteboard.
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