BARCELONA • Lionel Messi officially became a free agent yesterday but Barcelona remain confident of tying down their skipper to a new deal.
Attempts to offer the forward, who is captaining Argentina at the ongoing Copa America in Brazil, a new contract are being held up because of La Liga's financial-control measures, the club's president, Joan Laporta, said yesterday.
Messi, who joined Barca aged 13 in September 2000, has no current contractual link with the Catalan giants after his deal expired on Wednesday.
While Laporta insisted the club's all-time top scorer and appearance maker (672 goals in 778 games) wants to stay at the Nou Camp, he added their attempts to tie him to a new deal had to fit with the league's requirements.
"It's going well, he wants to stay and we're making all the efforts to ensure he does. But we have to balance it with financial fair play," Laporta told Spanish radio station Onda Cero yesterday.
"There are many options and we're contemplating which is the best for both parties. But we want him to stay and so does he, we want to give him the most competitive team possible."
La Liga introduced financial-control measures in 2013, establishing a maximum amount of money each club can spend on their squad and coaching staff each season, conditioned by their income.
At €715.1 million (S$1.14 billion), Barca have the highest revenues in world football according to this year's Deloitte Money League, although income dropped by €125 million last year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the start of the 2019-20 season, they were allocated a maximum budget of €1.47 billion by La Liga, which shrank to €733 million for the last campaign and is expected to fall even further after a whole season without ticket sales and a depressed transfer market.
Messi had the most lucrative contract in world sport - €138 million per season before variables like club trophies are met - according to a January report in Spanish daily El Mundo. If Barca are to get a new deal for him over the line, they will have to further reduce their wage bill, which Laporta said last month contained many players on salaries "out of sync with the current market".
So far the club have been able to get rid of only fringe players during the transfer window, with Juan Miranda, Jean-Clair Todibo, Matheus Fernandes and Konrad de la Fuente all departing, while Junior Firpo also looks set to be on the move.
Neto, Samuel Umtiti, Philippe Coutinho and Miralem Pjanic are reportedly up for sale but there have been no takers, and more players have to leave if Barca are to not only accommodate Messi but their four new arrivals - Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and Emerson Royal.
REUTERS
