In August 2021, Lionel Messi’s sudden departure from Barcelona shook the soccer world. What appeared like a settled contract renewal become a stunning farewell, leaving followers and specialists questioning what went fallacious. The story of Messi’s exit intertwines monetary struggles, inner politics, and the surprising affect of Actual Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez.
When Joan Laporta received Barcelona‘s presidential election in March 2021, one in every of his core guarantees was to make sure Lionel Messi remained on the membership. Laporta’s slogan, “I’ll sort things with Messi over a barbecue,” resonated with followers, incomes him belief and votes. Nevertheless, the membership was in monetary disarray, exacerbated by the pandemic. La Liga president Javier Tebas provided a lifeline: the CVC Capital Companions funding deal, Spanish newspaper Sport reveals
The proposed deal promised a €2.7 billion injection into La Liga golf equipment in trade for 10% of their broadcasting rights for 25 years. Laporta noticed this as a solution to renew Messi’s contract, which had expired on June 30, 2021, and commenced negotiating in secret.
Turning level: Actual Madrid intervenes
Florentino Perez, president of Actual Madrid, was blindsided by the CVC deal. Upon studying about it, Perez referred to as Javier de Jaime, CVC’s head in Spain, demanding a gathering. Perez considered the deal as financially skewed in favor of CVC and detrimental to La Liga’s golf equipment, notably its giants.
Perez’s skepticism set off a sequence response. He instructed his director, Jose Angel Sanchez, to contact Barcelona’s CEO, Ferran Reverter. When Reverter admitted he was unaware of the CVC negotiations, tensions rose inside the Catalans’ management.
That’s when Reverter confronted a dilemma: inform Laporta or alert Jose Elias, the guarantor of Laporta’s presidency. Elias, who had contributed €40 million as a monetary backer, had insisted on being knowledgeable of serious monetary choices. Reverter selected to tell Elias, triggering a sequence of occasions that derailed Messi’s renewal.
Elias vehemently opposed the CVC deal, viewing it as a menace to his monetary assure. He warned Laporta that continuing with the deal would outcome within the speedy withdrawal of his backing, doubtlessly ending Laporta’s presidency. With no different financing out there, Laporta needed to abandon the CVC settlement—and, with it, Messi’s renewal.
Messi’s ultimate try to remain
Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, have been blindsided by the sudden collapse of the deal, the report goes on to say. Jorge flew to Barcelona, believing the renewal was a mere formality. Messi himself, on trip in Ibiza, awaited affirmation to signal the contract. The announcement was even drafted, able to be launched.
The Argentine’s father assured Laporta that cash would by no means be a problem and that Messi was prepared to simply accept any situations to remain. Nevertheless, Laporta had already determined, citing monetary constraints and the impossibility of fulfilling his electoral promise with out the CVC funds.
Publicly, Laporta blamed the CVC deal, stating that signing it will have “mortgaged the membership for 25 years.” Messi’s camp, nonetheless, felt betrayed. From their perspective, the non-renewal wasn’t purely a monetary situation however stemmed from deeper mismanagement and miscalculations by the Barcelona board.
Florentino Perez’s function in unraveling the CVC deal added one other layer to the story. Whereas Perez acted in Madrid’s greatest pursuits, his intervention not directly catalyzed Messi’s departure.
Then, on August 5, 2021, Laporta knowledgeable Messi and his household that the renewal was unattainable. Three days later, the famous person held a tearful press convention, bidding farewell to the membership he had referred to as dwelling for 21 years. Shortly after, he joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free switch.
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The post Painful 72-hour U-Flip: How Lionel Messi went from renewing with Barcelona to leaving—with slightly assist from Actual Madrid first appeared on Foot & Soccer.
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Author : footsoccer
Publish date : 2024-12-26 16:27:01
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