COMMENT: There's anger. Dismay. Confusion. But no matter the feelings towards Joan Laporta today. Barcelona's president has put the club's long-term future first...
As a Barcelona player, Lionel Messi is no more. The club, no matter how reluctantly, scrubbing his name and image from it's website. Messi was a free agent as he led Argentina to Copa America glory last month - and remains so now.
The decision from Laporta and his board blindsided Messi and his father. A meeting was scheduled to be held with directors on Thursday. It was expected to be a mere formality. A five-year deal had been settled a fortnight previous. Messi had done his part, agreeing to a 50 per cent cut on his last contract. He had returned from Ibiza excited and eager to get back to the La Masia training pitches. He and his family had no idea what his father, Jorge, would be told on Thursday.
In the end, it was Laporta who called Jorge before the meeting was to take place. There was no deal. It couldn't happen. The LaLiga's wage cap wouldn't allow it. Jorge would immediately contact his son to inform him of Barca's decision. Messi was shocked. He still is. One source stating, "Leo is in real distress". The player's camp never saw this coming.
Was this a personal betrayal by Laporta? Had the president just gone back on the one major promise he had made during the election campaign? At first flush, it's difficult to argue against such claims - and especially if you're part of the player's camp.
But lost amongst the chaos of Thursday night was news of Barca's decision to run against the LaLiga's agreement with CVC Capital. On that morning, it had appeared Barca had accepted the cash injection. And to be fair, we at Tribalfootball.com ran with the story pretty hard.
Laporta and Messi in better times a decade ago
The €250m the LaLiga would divert to Barca would ease the club's debts, give them room to secure Messi and also register their summer signings - all without the need for dramatic squad cuts to get everything under the LaLiga's wage cap.
But it's now emerged that Barca, along with Real Madrid, have rejected the CVC input. The sacrifice needed to trigger the cash injection was simply too great. As Real Madrid pointed out in a terse statement yesterday: "The clubs have signed over their audiovisual rights exclusively for their sale on a competitive basis for a period of three years. This agreement, by way of a misleading structure, expropriates 10.95 percent of the clubs' audiovisual rights for the next 50 years, in breach of the law."
At the time of it's release, it appeared that Real Madrid were on their own. But it's now emerged that Barca have also pulled back - even if it means losing their greatest ever player.
Laporta isn't Josep Maria Bartomeu. He didn't want this to happen. But he also couldn't sacrifice 11 per cent of the club's key revenue stream for the next 50 years. Laporta had to put the club's long-term well-being first.
But that's not to say Laporta is blameless. Though there's plenty of that to go around. In regards to the president, his confidence in securing Messi's signature was built on selling high earners. But he and his staff have so far failed. Antoine Griezmann, Miralem Pjanic, Neto, Samuel Umtiti, the list goes on and on. None of those made available by Barca this summer have yet left. That Pjanic wants to leave - and Juventus are happy to take him - yet he remains a Blaugrana player is baffling.
Beyond the board, Messi's senior teammates also need to look at themselves. Along with the planned sales, Laporta also expected to secure renegotiated deals with Barca's leadership group: Gerard Pique, Sergi Busquets, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto. Yet all four are still on their current contracts. Pique is said to have agreed to the reduction, but nothing has yet been enacted. That Messi was willing to take a 50 per cent cut to remain involved, while his teammates refused to do the same to keep him around... you can just imagine how the Argentine is feeling this morning.
Beyond Laporta and his closest confidants, no-one saw this coming. That on the same day Manchester City were announcing a £100m British record deal for Jack Grealish, the now former Aston Villa captain, is proof enough that Messi's camp had let it be known he would re-signing with Barca. Everything was set up, at least from his end, for Messi to put pen to paper this week.
But as mentioned, after 18 years, the relationship is over. Barca already removing his profile from their website; the name of Messi from their No10 shirts. It really has happened.
And it's a shame. A shambles. Not just for Barca. Nor for the LaLiga. But for football. The best player in the world. Destined to collect another Ballon d'Or. He remains a free agent. Without a club. Without anywhere to do his preseason. He's adrift. Even taking a 50 per cent cut on his previous contract couldn't solve the situation. There's something fundamentally wrong with the industry's regulations when such an embarrassment can happen.
Yeah, there's anger. Dismay. But there's also plenty of blame to go around. Laporta, with what he was left to work with, had to put Barca's long-term future first - even at the expense of their greatest ever player.
