The departure of Argentine star Lionel Messi from Barcelona was one of the most prominent shocks in the summer transfer period in 2021, and the Argentine legend spent most of his football career with the Catalan club, reaching unprecedented levels in his career, and establishing himself as one of the greatest football stars in history.

After receiving 7 Golden Balls, Messi eventually left the club after suffering financially due to the "Covid-19" pandemic.

And the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” revealed Messi’s demands to renew his contract with Barcelona in 2020, the most prominent of which are:

  • A special place in the Camp Nou for the families of Messi and Luis Suarez.

  • A private plane trip for his whole family to visit Argentina during Christmas.

  • Signature bonus of 10 million euros

  • Restore the discounts imposed by the epidemic in the following years at an interest rate of 3%.

  • Leave Barcelona at any time with a symbolic release clause of 10,000 euros.

Some of these terms were revealed from a series of emails between Messi's father and agent Jorge Messi, his lawyer and former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, along with other members of the club's board of directors.

El Mundo was able to obtain - exclusively - a number of documents and emails that are part of a judicial investigation.

In addition to Messi's demands, there are also documents related to Gerard Pique and Neymar, which the newspaper will continue to publish.

It is also reported that Bartomeu agreed to most of the conditions except for reducing the penalty clause for leaving the team from 700 million to 10 thousand euros, while making the payment of the 10 million bonus conditional on the club's return to the income before the "Barca Gate" scandal.

Because of these differences, the two sides cut off the negotiations, and the story ended with Messi submitting a request to leave the club.

According to “El Mundo”, negotiations began on June 11, 2020, and Messi’s legal representative requested the signing of a new contract for 3 seasons, with the possibility of a unilateral extension for the player.

Messi accepted a 20% reduction in the fixed salary in the 2020-2021 season due to the Corona pandemic, but demanded a refund of 10% in the 2021-2022 season and another 10% in 2022-2023 and an interest of 3% per year.

He also demanded the accrued loyalty bonus already included in his contract in October 2020 and July 2021 with interest, which was to be applied to amounts deferred at the time of the completion of the new contract.