Posted on 08/05/2021 3:22:24 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
Barcelona say Lionel Messi will not be staying at the club "because of financial and structural obstacles".
Messi, 34, has been a free agent since 1 July when his contract expired.
"Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled," the club said.
Barcelona had said Messi was poised to extend his 21-year career with the club by signing the new deal on Thursday, and blame La Liga for the failure to do so.
He had reached an agreement to stay with the Catalan side until 2026 - but La Liga said the club must reduce wages before he and any new players can be registered.
"Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles [Spanish La Liga regulations]," the club said.
"FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life."
Messi is Barcelona's record scorer with 672 goals and has won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and seven Copa del Reys, as well as claiming the Ballon d'Or on a record six occasions.
Keeping Messi at the Nou Camp had been president Joan Laporta's top priority this summer.
The Barca future of a player who is widely regarded as being one of the world's greatest of all time, however, has been severely complicated by the club's financial problems.
The presidential election earlier this year was held against the backdrop of Barca being on the verge of bankruptcy.
The Argentine arguably now becomes the most in-demand player in world football.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Supposedly the entire league was trying to pool their money to keep Messi in La Liga and couldn’t pull it off..
34 years old and been with the soccer club for 21 years????
He started pro soccer at 13 years old?????
Messi’s talent has dropped off dramatically over the last few years. Barcelona knows this. And ultimately their job is winning soccer games.
If someone signs him for a giant amount of money it will be more for the publicity than for his current soccer skills.
Yeah, your pocketbook def takes a hit when you start paying the taxes you owe.
I think keeping Messi was also a publicity thing for Barca, they need to start bringing in younger talent.
Ronaldo has won 32 major trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League. Ronaldo holds the records for most goals (134) and assists (42) in the Champions League, most goals in the European Championship (14), and is currently tied with Ali Daei for most international goals (109). He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances, and has scored over 780 official senior career goals for club and country.
The reason I suspect Messi appears more popular is La Liga is played on Spanish speaking TV around the world. He gets a lot of exposure where Ronaldo did play for Real Madrid, but he also played in Portugal, England and Italy. Spanish speaking TV does show games in other countries, but it is hit or miss as to which teams are televised. Barca is always shown on Spanish TV Stations. Do not get me wrong, Messi is amazing and in his prime he was a goal machine. But I would have liked to see him play in England, Germany or Italy to see what he was able to do in a more fast paced or aggressive environment.
That's when Barcelona signed him. He was in Spain by the time he was 14 and was on the main team at 16. He was so good he went through 5 youth divisions (kind of like the minor leagues in baseball) in one season.
Just as an aside because he was mentioned in another post, Messi's idol was Ronaldo. He called him the best forward he had ever seen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.