After the news of Valentino Rossi's retirement in the motorcycle racing arena, the world was again shocked by Lionel Messi's departure from the Barcelona club. The player who was named the greatest of all time (GOAT) failed to reach an agreement with the Catalan club to continue a career for 21 years.

This news clearly made the world of football noisy. Even though Messi is 34 years old, he is still reasonably competitive in a La Liga class competition. The Argentinean has even just brought his national team to win the Copa America championship.

Actually, Messi and Barcelona have sat together to extend the contract. The two sides are said to have reached an agreement to continue cooperation. Unfortunately, there are financial and structural barriers from the Spanish League regulations that hinder the deal.

 

 

 

 

 

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"Although FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi today mutually agreed and wanted to sign a contract, the agreement could not be continued due to financial and structural barriers to the league's regulations," the club said in a statement.

"Therefore, Messi will not stay at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the expectations of the club and the player could not be fulfilled. FC Barcelona thanks the player wholeheartedly for his contribution to the promotion of the club's reputation and wishes him all the best for his personal and professional future."

What are the economic and structural barriers that Messi and Barcelona face? This is related to La Liga rules that require clubs to spend players by their financial conditions. While that sounds good for the club's survival, this rule complicates the position of players like Messi, whose contract expired last year.

The regulation explains that a club like Barcelona has a salary limit to have a certain number of players. Because of the pandemic, Barcelona lost more than 30 percent of its revenue, plus the large salaries of existing players made the team's salary limit exceeded. Barcelona should be able to sell their players to loosen the salary limit; unfortunately, no Barcelona players have been sold.

 

 

 

 

 

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Barcelona actually added players such as Eric Garcia, Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, and Emerson Royal before resolving this salary limit issue. In addition, there is a structural problem that needs to be addressed, namely the accumulated amortization.

Amortization is simply the calculation of expenditure from incoming new player transfers, namely the transfer price divided every year. Suppose a new player costs $50 million on a five-year contract meaning the club has to pay $10 million annually.

Unfortunately, Barcelona still has to complete the amortization of earlier players, such as Miralem Pjanic, Philippe Coutinho, Martin Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Frenkie De Jong, and other players who have increased the salary limit of players and complicated Messi's contract.

Previously, Messi was willing to cut his income by 50 percent to stay in Barcelona for the next five years. However, it is impossible to extend Messi's contract without drastically reducing the Barcelona player's salary bill due to the club's financial condition.

The next question being discussed is where will the Barcelona legend be anchored in the next season? PSG and Manchester City are the two clubs that have the most potential to get Messi's signature at this time with an unlimited amount of funds.

PSG is where Messi's former Barcelona teammates currently play, but Manchester City has also offered the opportunity to play alongside Pep Guardiola, the coach who tapped into Messi's potential. Some say Messi will end his career at his boyhood club at Newell's Old Boys, Argentina; despite seeing his still competitive abilities, Messi's era is not over.

 

 

 

 

 

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Messi's journey with Barcelona has often been described as the story of the most significant football discovery of the century. Messi, born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, has been playing football since he was five years old. He then joined the club in his hometown, Newell's Old Boys, and made a record of only one defeat during his four years playing there.

The problem came when Messi was 11 years old, suffering from a growth hormone deficiency, which made his family try to find a donor for a cure. The story then turned to Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, who was aware of Messi's condition and wanted to help by applying for a contract for the Argentine to play in Spain. The rest is history.

Messi's record at Barcelona seems challenging to compete with. He has played 778 games, racking up 672 goals and 305 assists throughout his career at the club. The trophies collected include 10 times La Liga champions, 7 times Copa Del Rey winners, 8 times Supercopa de Espana, 4 times Champions League, 3 times UEFA Super Cup, and 1 time Club World Cup. Messi also won the Ballon d'Or award 6 times during his time at Barcelona.

Messi ended the Barcelona era filled with the most talented players the Spanish League had ever seen. His rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, who played for Real Madrid, became the golden moments of the Spanish League because it was filled with two football superstars.