Cash-strapped Barcelona will still have to fork out a massive £170,000 per week to Lionel Messi until 2025 if he does eventually leave in the summer 2021, according to reports .
Messi left the Spanish giants on a free form in the summer disillusioned with formalities on and off the pitch, but Barcelona blocked any move by insisting on suitors – especially Manchester City – will have to pay his £629m release clause.
Messi’s future is now up in the air – with it still being expected that he will leave in the summer – and if that is the case, he would still earn an eye-watering £170,000 per week for the next four years from Barcelona due to a contractual agreement, according to Marca.
Lionel Messi will reportedly pocket substantial money from Barcelona even if he leaves
The report claims that the 7-time Ballon d’Or winner will bank £34.7million (€39m) at the end of the 2020-21 campaign, which is half of his £69.4m (€78m) bonus that was agreed when he put pen to paper on his last contract renewal in 2017.
The other half of the £69.4m bonus is reportedly being paid in installments, which will see the Argentine icon receive the money in eight separate payments over four years – which would go on until 2025.
That would equate to roughly £170,000 per week for Messi, who has attracted plenty of interest from both City and Paris Saint-Germain.
This would be another huge financial blow for Barca, with the club’s current crippling debt approaching €1billion euros.
The Argentine icon’s future at Barca remains up in the air after a summer of discontent
The LaLiga side announced during the 2019-20 season that they expected to be the first club to break the £1bn barrier for income in a single year in football, however that figure was blown off course by the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, the club took a loss of almost $100m (£73.5m) for the campaign, and there are concerns this season could be worse.
And, according to Catalonia’s leading newspaper La Vanguardia, that has added to the total the club owes, with a net debt of €500m being topped up by a ‘runaway’ deficit amounting to more than €400m.
The article explains that the next president and his board will have to prioritize dealing with this situation, with a debt of 420 million euros in the near term.
The Spanish giants are in a financial mess amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
That is something the club cannot currently afford, and so an expensive restructuring of those debts will likely be needed, throwing the club into a further financial hole.
While the Argentina star currently, has not yet agreed with PSG on whether to sign or leave in the summer transfer window, it is known that Al Hilal club is planning to recruit Lionel Messi as soon as next summer. with contracts worth up to 245 million pounds/year.
‘I’m not at all sure about my future,’ he told journalist Jordi Evole.
‘I’m going to wait until the season ends I don’t know if I will go or not but if I do I want to go in the best way possible.’
source: dailymail.co.uk
