Lionel Messi won’t be leaving Barcelona this summer after all, but don’t confuse this development to think that everything is suddenly rosy at Camp Nou again.
Messi announced his decision to remain in the only club he has ever known as a professional on Friday in a revealing interview with Goal. The decision closes an extraordinary couple of weeks, which began with Messi attempting to break with Barcelona via burofax, only on contractual terms (a 700 million euro / $ 835 million exit clause) and technicalities (a free exit clause which expired in June but quarreled over the postponement of the end of the season) preventing him from having a realistic way out a year before the agreement with the club expires.
In his flip, Messi talked about his love for the club, what the city – and potentially leaving it – would mean to his wife and young children, and how he could never bring the club that gave him so much. in court to force his way. on.
Messi is not one who conveys his thoughts regularly and publicly, so when he does, they have added weight. And the bulk of the weight behind his most recent comments is entirely aimed at one man: Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Messi held no punches. He feels offended and misled by Bartomeu. He blames Bartomeu for the club’s multitude of problems. He may stay, but he won’t be completely happy about it.
“The management of the club led by Bartomeu is a disaster,” said Messi. “The truth is, there is no project in this club. They just plug holes as and when things happen. I would never go to war against the club of my life. That’s why I stay.”
Objectively speaking, Messi is accurate. The club squandered the finances raised from Neymar’s 2017 world record transfer to PSG, effectively turning him into Ousmane Dembele (the talented but often injured winger who has been repeatedly linked to an exit) and Philippe Coutinho (who scored twice versus Barcelona on loan to Bayern Munich in the Champions League 8-2 that pushed Messi over the edge). The purchase of Antoine Griezmann last summer didn’t really make much sense from a tactical point of view, and it was proven on the pitch, where the Frenchman was often anonymous or, worse still, supplanted by the 17-year-old Academy phenomenon Ansu Fati. It’s over $ 400 million that has been ineffectively invested as the core of the team has aged considerably. The fluctuations and mistakes occur in the transfer market, but Barcelona’s approach doesn’t seem to be one with a discernible plan.
On top of that, the club replaced manager Ernesto Valverde – him of two consecutive La Liga titles – in the winter with Quique Setien, who was his third pick at best and lasted all seven months. All this time, Barcelona were collapsing in the Champions League, with the famous jump advantage against Roma and Liverpool preceding the centuries-old defeat to Bayern in Lisbon. Messi was called in from time to time to hide the cracks in the foundation. It is understandable to see how his frustration will grow as he reaches thirty-five and the opportunities to win at the height of his powers diminish.
There seems to be a new path for the club’s younger players, and new manager Ronald Koeman has already spotted the veterans he doesn’t see coming for the race. At this point, however, Messi had already imagined himself elsewhere, so he says.
Messi claims to have told Bartomeu all year that he would be leaving, despite Bartomeu having shown in public for months that everything was copacetic. Not only would Messi not leave, the president said, but a new deal was on the table and he was confident that the Argentine icon would play out his remaining days on the Barcelona stage.
Hearing Messi describe it from his point of view couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I’m staying because the president said the only way to go is to pay the 700 million euro (exit) clause, which is impossible. The other way was to go to court, “Messi said.” I wanted to go and I was totally within my rights, because the contract said I could leave for free. It wasn’t just, “I’m going.” It was very difficult to go. my last years of football were happy and i did not find happiness in the club there was nothing wrong with it [me] going to that point. I needed it, the club needed it, it was good for everyone.
“The burofax was a way to make it official. I spent all year telling the president that I wanted to go, that it was time to take a new direction. He always said to me: “We talk about it, but not now for this or that.” He didn’t accept what I was telling him. “
Lluis Gene / AFP / Getty Images
It is possible that Bartomeu consciously stopped at an effective level. He has his legacy to consider, and being the one who let go of Messi probably isn’t how he’d like to be remembered. Not that it really matters. If the achievements on the European stage and the consequent frustrations of players and fans have not ignited his reputation within the club, Messi certainly has.
The club’s elections are set for March, at which time Bartomeu’s reign will end. Whether the club’s relationship with Messi can be repaired in the coming months is now the next challenge. With his contract expiring at the end of the 2020-2021 season, he can sign a pre-contract with any club of his choice in the winter before leaving for free. That doesn’t leave anyone much time, be it Bartomeu, other board members or presidential candidates, to convince him that signing a new deal at Barcelona is his best chance to secure those happy last years he wants.
This two-week transfer saga may be over, but the dramatic soap opera and struggle for power in Barcelona will continue for the foreseeable future.
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