Explaining Laporta and LaLiga, PSG interest, FFP effects, what’s next

Barcelona President Joan Laporta reiterated at a news conference on Friday what the club had announced on its website on Thursday: after 21 years, Lionel Messi will not return to the club.

You can read the background here, but Laporta doubled to blame LaLiga for the financial constraints and devastating finances he inherits from his predecessor, Josep Maria Bartomeu, about the resignation of Mess, saying there is no going back.

– When Laporta Mess leaves: No player bigger than the club
– Sources: PSG is negotiating a transfer with Mess
– Guardiola rules out Mess’s move to Man City

With three and a half weeks left in the transfer window, many consider Paris Saint-Germain the most likely destination for a 34-year-old Argentine star, but … it’s always but. And it makes a lot more sense.

Q: How? Laporta said “the negotiations were over” and he didn’t want to give anyone “false hope.”

A: As I wrote yesterday, when you take it all apart, three things are true: Messi wants to stay (at least according to Laporta), Barcelona wants him to stay, and LaLigan is very clear that he wants to stay. So it seems absurd that when you have three parties who decide on the future of the Mess and they all want the same result, there is no way to solve it.

Q: Laporta said he “expected LaLiga to be more flexible” in terms of spending limits, but also that the league was under pressure from other clubs to follow the rules …

A: Toki. The rules are the rules, but Messi adds value throughout the league, and most clubs benefit from the drainage effect. Even giants like Real Madrid: a Classic where they encounter the Barcelona Mess is more valuable to them than one where they encounter the Mess less Barca.

That’s why it doesn’t look right, and Jaume Roures thinks the same way.

Q: Who is Jaume Roures, and why does it matter?

A: Roures on Barcelona “sosio“(member), but more importantly, he is the founder of the Spanish media company MediaPro, which deals with film and sports rights. which he had “personally confirmed.” But then, Roures says, “something happened … I don’t know what happened.”

Q: What could have happened?

A: Some have speculated that at the last minute, the Mess camp was not happy with the agreement proposed by Laporta. Or as we suggested yesterday, this is a Laporta power game where Javier Tebas and LaLiga are shot in the background of the CVC Capital Partners contract and the Super League.

In fact, Laporta mentioned the CVC agreement on Friday, saying that the only way they could have gotten LaLiga on the Messi rubber stamps was if Barcelona agreed to rubber stamp the CVC agreement. And Laporta said he was not prepared to do so because it “was against the interests of the club” and “would have fixed their future.”

to be afraid

Julien Laurens comments on the latest Lionel Fair and his future in Barcelona.

Q: Almost like Laporta suggests LaLiga and their president Javier Tebas blackmail the club and tell them that the only way to accept the Mess contract is if they support the CVC contract (which has not yet been approved by the Liga clubs). . Is it so?

A: Tebas doesn’t think so. He took to Twitter to say that the CVC agreement would have really helped all the clubs, including Barcelona. He also hinted that Laporta was involved “a few hours ago”. So yes: it feels like Messi is a pledge in a CVC dispute.

But even if we left this on the page, Laporta offered some numbers that don’t look quite together …

LATEST NEWS Leo #Mess does not continue with FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 5, 2021

Q: Like what?

A: At first, he said they did a new inspection of the club’s finances and found that they were in a worse position than they had previously thought, and therefore he didn’t have six months to figure out the Mess contract. But why negotiate without knowing what the budget really is?

Laporta also said that without the Messian agreement on their books, they are right within the limits allowed by LaLiga rules, but hopefully they can still register their four new signatures: Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Emerson and Eric Garcia. These four will pay Barcelona about $ 40 million in salaries and another $ 10 million in Emerson’s transfer fee. That’s $ 50 million, which is roughly what Messi had announced he agreed to cut his salary: to $ 20 million net or after tax.

Q: So to speak, it looks like it’s a direct choice: those four guys or Messi …

A: It’s not quite that simple, and Laporta himself noted that the numbers weren’t comparable, but so they suggest. Unless, of course, Messi pays Barca more than they thought they agreed.

to be afraid

Barcelona correspondent Sam Marsden discusses whether Barcelona President Joan Laporta will seek a reaction from LaLiga if Messi leaves.

Q: Can’t Barcelona try to lower their wages by selling players or getting them to cut more?

A: You would think so. Barcan finds it difficult to find new clubs for his unwelcome players because they have very high salaries and the clubs they have can’t afford them. And I don’t think they want to sacrifice award-winning young players like Frenkie De Jong or Pedri for two seasons of the Mess, which is more than understandable.

Laporta says they no longer have “room to maneuver” in cutting salaries, but honestly you wonder what veterans like Sergio Busquets or Gerard Pique, players who are very committed and loyal to Barcelona and have huge salaries, could say if you asked them : “Hey, could you cut your salary if that meant playing the last years of your career alongside the Mess?”

Q: What does the Mess have to say in all this?

A: We don’t know – he hasn’t spoken yet. You assume he wants to stay and may even be willing to cut his salary even further. And if this is just a CVC deal and increasing LaLiga’s flexibility, maybe he’s even involved in Laporta’s operations. Even if you imagine he would not appreciate being used as a pledge in the eternal battle between Barcelona and Tebas.

Q: At least the number of possible Messi destinations seems to have decreased …

A: Yes, Pep Guardiola said the new signer Jack Grealish will get the No. 10 shirt and that Messi “is not the target at the moment”, so PSG is the only club that is ready – and able to disperse nearly $ 200 million from Mess’s two-year salary ( it is reported that his new club will not receive the “Mess Hometown Discount” and he will spend the money north of the $ 90 million period).

Q: PSG? They have spent money: they have already signed big money with free agents like Georginio Wijnaldum from Liverpool, Sergio Ramos from Real Madrid and Gianluigi Donnarumma from Milan. In addition, they spent $ 70 million on Achraf Hakim from Inter. How can they afford all this?

A: Good question. You would expect their salary to be paid without the Mess, too, and don’t forget: they haven’t yet extended Kylian Mbappe’s contract, which expires in June 2022. She’ll make almost Mess’s money if she signs a new contract.

But Mesa is seen as a player of change, I think it will further raise the prestige of the club, open up new commercial opportunities and so on. Not to mention what he gives you on the field. The club has said it is considering the situation, and PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino (who, like Mess, is from Rosario) is apparently open to opportunity.

– Sources: Mess Barcelona Treaty in a precarious situation
– Social media reacts to Messi news
– Mess timeline: Break up 20 years in Barcelona

If you were a cynic, you would suggest that from the perspective of PSG’s Qatari owners, it’s more of a short-term perspective when the Qatar World Cup comes in late 2022.

Q: How would Messi fit into PSG?

A: You assume among the top three with Neymar and Mbappe, which would be pretty tasty. I’m not sure how much it makes sense tactically, but so much talent wins tactics every day of the week. In addition, PSG’s approach has been like the NBA in recent years: a couple of superstars with max contracts, a switch to reliable mid-sized stars, and a bunch of cheaper guys to fill the team.

(I say with all due respect to people like Leandro Paredes and Juan Bernat, by the way …)

to be afraid

Pep Guardiola rules out the possibility that Lionel Messi will join Man City, and thanks him for his service in Barcelona.

Q: What about financial fair play?

A: It is currently frozen due to the COVID-19 effect. In the longer term, UEFA is working on new rules, but everything is in the air. So so far it’s about who can carry the money more than who can balance the books.

Q: What would be PSG’s appeal to the Fair? It’s not cash: he has more than enough …

A: I think he would like to try something new, and he has long been a fan of Pochettino. In addition, he will be associated with Neymar. And of course, he can still compete in the Champions League: winning the fifth must be his top priority.

Some have also suggested that it is a less physically demanding league that will allow him to rest and arrive perfectly fit for Qatar 2022, where he can take the final crack to win the World Cup in Argentina. Maybe there’s some truth in that too …

But I guess this is not far off. We need to hear from the Mess. We need to assess what the response from Barcelona fans is. We need to consult Tebas (and most importantly, other LaLiga clubs need to consult Tebas on how his departure may affect the CVC contract and short-term LaLiga earnings). And from PSG’s perspective, since the well isn’t bottomless, they need to be sure that getting Mess at 2021-22 doesn’t mean seeing Mbappe in another team’s jersey in 2022-23.

So maybe I’m romantic, but I think twists and turns are still coming. And my hunch still says they’ll find a way to keep him.