FC Barcelona and its financial disarray resulted in arguably the best player ever, Lionel Messi, leaving the La Liga club.
There were hurdles they couldn’t clear to be salary cap compliant. Despite the 34-year-old departing the club and beginning a new chapter of his career in Paris, both parties remain connected due to debt.
According to Sport, Barcelona owes their former superstar €52-million, which corresponds to the deferred salary agreed with the entire squad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former president Josep Maria Bartomeu met with all the first-team players to renegotiate their contracts when La Liga paused the competition during confinement. Bartomeu agreed to deferred payments part of the salaries, which amounts to €52 million in Messi’s case.
This sum, in no case, is part of a loyalty bonus. Barcelona plans to make payments on this debt between the rest of 2021 and 2022. The figures of these payments are what the lawyers of both parties are negotiating at the moment.
