The star of world football, the Argentinian Lionel Messi, prolongs the suspense: he was expected in Paris, Monday, August 9, where he could commit to PSG, at the expense of Barça.

But by mid-afternoon, the player was still at home, in Catalonia, with his friend Luis Suarez and their family, as reported by AFP journalists.

This recruitment would be the most important in the history of PSG which belongs to the wealthy Emir of Qatar.

The era that began with an iconic moment, in 2000, when a young 13-year-old Argentinian prodigy, a certain Lionel Messi, signed for FC Barcelona on a napkin, ended when, in tears , he confirmed he was leaving the club at a press conference on Sunday August 8.

The era marked by his exquisite passing, dazzling dribbling and surgical precision shooting that left goalkeepers as helpless as they were perplexed - impossible for football fans to imagine that they could be the work of a player other than Lionel Messi, dressed in the inimitable jersey of his beloved Barça - is no more.

The 34-year-old football legend avoided giving details of his future at Sunday's press conference, but when asked about a move to PSG, Messi admitted it was of a "possibility". 

An "untenable" financial situation 

In a response reflecting the emotion aroused by the announcement of Lionel Messi's departure, and not only among Barça supporters, club manager Ronald Koeman tweeted on Saturday: "Still difficult to understand that you will not play anymore for @FCBarcelona ".

Still hard to understand that you will not play for @FCBarcelona anymore.

Thanks for everything you have done for our club Leo.

I really enjoyed the full season we worked together.

I am impressed with your work ethic and desire to win.

pic.twitter.com/iRCUpsdoZK

- Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) August 7, 2021

But, alas, from a financial point of view, it is easy to understand why Messi will no longer play in Spain.

The Covid-19 pandemic which has hit hard clubs, including those which were financially well managed, by depriving them for long months of gaming and ticketing income, caused a loss of 487 million euros at FC Barcelona .

After several years of precarious finances, the Catalan club found itself having to face nearly 1.2 billion euros in debts, most of which are short-term.

With Messi in his ranks, the payroll of his workforce represented 110% of his income.

"We do not respect the rules of financial fair play", admitted, Friday, during his press conference announcing the departure of Messi, the president of the club, Joan Laporta, in reference to the new regulations established the rules of fair - La Liga financial play.

"Leo wanted to stay at Barca and we wanted him to stay," he said.

Messi had agreed to a half-equivalent pay cut, bringing it to nearly € 20m annually, compared to around € 45m after tax.

Joan Laporta said he would have liked to have stood in front of reporters to tell them the deal was financially viable and that Messi would stay: "It was everyone's dream".

But it was a false hope.

Even "without Messi, it's complicated, Joan Laporta told reporters, player salaries still absorbing 95% of income, which is" untenable ".

One of the most exciting prospects for Blaugrana fans heading into next season was the arrival of Sergio Aguero.

The formidable Argentine striker had accepted a salary cut of 17 million euros to join his friend and compatriot Lionel Messi at Barça after a decade spent under the colors of Manchester City.

Ironically, Sergio Aguero is going to have to recover both from the disappointment of not playing with his friend in Catalonia and the potential disappointment of being too expensive to be registered in Barca's squad.

The humiliation inflicted by Bayern

The signing of Sergio Aguero was the latest in a series of decisions taken by Joan Laporta to content and keep Lionel Messi at Barca.

The latter had notably hinted that he wanted to leave the club following the infamous defeat inflicted by Bayern Munich (8-2), in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, in August 2020. The captain of the Argentine selection before expressed in passing his deep dissatisfaction with the predecessor of Joan Laporta, Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Lionel Messi did not live this humiliation very badly, especially as Barça had been beaten in the round of 16 by Juventus, Roma and Liverpool in the three previous seasons.

The Champions League is "very difficult", he told reporters, "but you have to be competitive".

Messi's career is the best example of the transformation of football: between his debut in Barcelona and today, we went from a Barça who was going to crush Europe thanks to his training and a PSG who struggled in L1, to a bankrupt Barça who is stripped by PSG.

- Pierre Maturana (@pierre_maturana) August 8, 2021

The Catalans' financial woes and their problems on the pitch are intrinsically linked.

It would have been almost impossible to maintain the exceptional performances of the Josep Guardiola era (2008-2012), crowned by two wins for FC Barcelona in the Champions League final against Manchester United of Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, after continuing to win trophies in style in Spain for the past few years, Barca have started to weaken and move away from the European football elite after selling Neymar to PSG for the record sum. of 222 million euros in 2017.

With his personal game and, at times, his mood swings, Neymar should have been easily replaced - especially with the financial windfall of his own transfer. But Barça has spent colossal sums on players who have not kept their promises, to the point of putting the club in difficulty. French world champion Antoine Griezmann (who cost 120 million euros) has rarely performed well at Barcelona, ​​while he shone at Atlético de Madrid and always shines with the Blues. Similarly, Philippe Coutinho (135 million euros) never at his level in Barcelona, ​​while he was in the heyday of Liverpool. The French Ousmane Dembélé (135 million euros) or the Brazilian Malcom (41 million euros), to name a few, do nothave also failed to live up to Barca's former pillars under the Guardiola era.

Former mainstays - especially Spanish midfielder maestros Xavi and Andres Iniesta - who missed much more than Neymar at Barcelona.

These two players, who joined Barça when they were still children and respectively left it in 2015 and 2018, embodied the sacred style of the club: "to receive, to pass, to offer, to receive, to pass, to offer", as the 'once explained Iniesta.

These two have made this deceptively simple instruction a devastatingly effective art form.

But alas for him, the Blaugrana training center, the famous Masia, failed to take Messi, Xavi or Iniesta out of the future and the club's financial abyss did not help him.

"I do not know what to say"

However, Barca's worst move in the transfer market came in the summer of 2020, when the club sold serial Uruguayan goalscorer Luis Suarez to Atlético Madrid for a whopping $ 5.5million. euros, in order to reduce its payroll.

Lionel Messi was angry with the decision management of Barça, addressing his friend of the Catalan attack in a public Instagram post: "You deserved a farewell to the height of what you are: one of the players most important in the history of the club [...]. You didn't deserve them to throw you out like they did ".

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi)

Messi was right: Suarez's sense of goal (21 goals last season) propelled Atlético to the top of La Liga, won in front of Real Madrid, second, and Barça ... third. This is the first time that the Catalan club have finished the championship neither first nor second since 2007-2008, the season that preceded the arrival at the head of the club of Josep Guardiola, the mentor of Lionel Messi, who saw his career took off under his leadership.

On May 16, the defeat of FC Barcelona at home against Celta Vigo, who is not a stronghold of the championship, cruelly highlighted the decline of the club.

But what is even more cruel is that this match was the scene of Lionel Messi's last goal under the colors of Barça.

Like lightning, he had bypassed the opposing defense to place a crossed header in the small left net, as if he were just placing the ball where it needed to be.

For any other player, a remarkable goal, but for Lionel Messi, a trivial matter.

"This year my family and I were convinced that we were going to stay here, at home - that's what we wanted more than anything," the Argentine genius said at Sunday's press conference, desperately trying not to not cry.

"I still haven't got used to the idea of ​​leaving this club now, of changing my life. I love this club," he continued.

“The truth is, I don't know what to say,” he added, tearfully.

As the football world mourns with him, perhaps the only thing left to highlight is to recall Messi's record and statistics at Barcelona.

Figures that have reached new heights and speak for him: 10 La Liga titles, 4 Champions League, 778 games for FC Barcelona and 672 goals scored.

Article translated from English, to read here in original version.

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