FC Barcelona will move heaven and earth to reunite with Lionel Messi despite their current financial situation.
Reports suggest that the Spanish club’s director of football, Mateu Alemany, departed due to disagreeing with the Argentine’s return.
As a result, it’s full speed ahead and Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol revealed the salary Messi might need to earn for a Camp Nou return.
“I think he’s going to have some options as far as Barcelona are concerned,” Solhekol said Thursday on Sky Sports. “He left Barcelona for financial reasons. He was getting paid something like; I think it was €100 million a year. He was asked to take a 50% pay cut. He couldn’t do that. He obviously had a better offer from PSG. Those financial problems are still there at Barcelona. Barcelona have to cut their wage bill.
“One thing you have to say for Spanish football is La Liga is very, very strict when it comes to enforcing their own financial fair play rules. So it will be difficult for Barcelona to sign him. He will have to take another wage cut. He will have to prove that he really, really wants to go back to Barcelona because he has other offers on the table. I mean, if he goes back to Barcelona, what, you would think that maybe they could afford to pay him something like €25 million a year.”
Messi will become a free agent in June after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires, so the Catalan side must figure out a salary that complies with La Liga’s Financial Fair Play rules.
While the Spanish league wants the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner, La Liga president Javier Tebas isn’t going to make exceptions to have the veteran goal scorer back in Spain.
Furthermore, Tebas recently stated that Messi must take a pay cut if he wants to return to Barcelona. A report out of France suggests that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner is ready to circumvent how his salary should be paid.
Will it be something that La Liga will approve? Only time will tell. Nonetheless, there are other options for the PSG star, with Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal and MLS club Inter Miami keen on Messi.
