Lionel Messi’s deal ‘will cost Barcelona a whopping £ 492 million when it ends this summer with a guaranteed £ 122 million star gross salary from the deal he signed four years ago’, while the financial problems of giants with cash problems
- Lionel Messi’s contract will end up costing £ 492 million in Barcelona
- The 33-year-old is expected to leave the Camp Nou for free this summer
- A combination of wages, image rights, and other variables has come at a cost
- Barcelona is in financial disarray with the pandemic that puts it in crisis
Lionel Messi’s current contract will end up costing Barcelona 555 million euros (492 million pounds) when he concludes this summer, as reported by El Mundo on Sunday.
The four-year agreement was signed in 2017 and will end this June, when the 33-year-old will be able to leave for nothing.
El Mundo says that the combination of fixed salary, image rights, variables and the tax that Barcelona has had to pay for the contract will amount to € 555,237,619.
Lionel Messi’s contract in Barcelona will cost £ 492 million for the club with cash problems
The figure was revealed by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which described the financial problems of Barcelona
Messi has been guaranteed 138 million euros (122 million pounds) per season in gross salary according to the leaked contract.
The leak is likely to outrage Messi’s field and further destabilize Barcelona, as the club stumbles upon the elections initially scheduled for last week, but which are now postponed until March 7 due to the coronavirus.
It comes days after the club released its financial report for the period 2019-2020, which revealed a gross debt of 1.2 trillion euros (£ 1 billion).
The 33-year-old is expected to leave the Camp Nou for free this summer and end a 17-year stay
Catalans have financial problems due to the pandemic and have asked the banks for help
The club has tried to get a loan of 100 million euros linked to the future sale of star players
This debt includes a short-term debt of 720 million euros (638 million pounds), of which 266 million euros (236 million pounds) is owed to various banks and financial institutions and must be paid before June 30th.
One of the creditors is Goldman Sachs, a major long-term financial partner in the redevelopment of the 800 million euro Camp Nou.
The Catalan newspaper El Periodico reported last week that the club was trying to get an additional loan of 100 million euros (89 million pounds sterling) related to the future sale of players.
Barcelona must refinance its debts to avoid having to change the structure of the club, which allows private investors to inject money in exchange for a certain degree of control.
