Can't say I'm surprised... dude even tried escaping his taxes.
Lionel Messi \ Signs for PSG
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The best thing about this situation is it's taken the shine away from the Grealish signing. 
Laporta has said he thinks they'll be able to register Aguero, Depay and Garcia anyway.
Fecking Barca fans (these kind), they deserve everything that's coming to their club.
Can't help but feel this is a big own goal by Messi. At 34 years old he's worth north of 500m. He could take a big pay cut, stay and help the club he's been at since he was a boy or go and earn a tonne of money for a few more years.
Can we unveil Varane tomorrow or as soon as there is a break in newsThe best thing about this situation is it's taken the shine away from the Grealish signing.
I would normally say its stupid to blame other players for Messi's situation but since its Griezmann... go on, boo the racist prick.
I think he accepted wages of 30% of his current contract. The issue is even if Messi played for free, they would be in trouble.
He accepted sneaky accounting where he played for 2 more years but would continue to be paid for 5 more years.
We have a chance to sign the best player of all time that will guarantee us a prem title. I don't understand why we are not going for him. We have the money
Ronaldo looks like he is staying at Juventus mate
We currently have to sell to buy. We clearly don't have the money.
Ole’s “anything can happen” quote obviously refers to this.
Ok sorry I've gone and read all the quotes etc from the past few hours. I probably should have done that before responding.
It looks like you're right and he's likely gone. I hadn't realised that Barca still have to reduce their wage bill by a significant amount to even get the new signings on board without Messi.
He's free
What actually happened? I thought he looks certain of staying after agreeing to a 50% paycut and with him finally winning something with Argentina and favourites for Ballon D'Or, he looks to fire Barca to the title next season. Barca President's statement sounds like they have had enough of him so will be interesting to see if this is on Messi or Barca. Funny thing is I think Barca will survive without him and could win La Liga next season.
Lets be honest, if he really wanted to stay at Barça, he would stay.
Nothing is stopping him to accept a low wage pay since he is already at the end of his career and has enough money for a few lifetimes.
Kudos for him for leaving and start a new challenge elsewhere though.
Nothing is stopping him to accept a low wage pay since he is already at the end of his career and has enough money for a few lifetimes.
Kudos for him for leaving and start a new challenge elsewhere though.
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Wasn’t a pay cut, it was just two years spread over five to circumvent wage caps
It was still HuGe
It wasn’t enough anyway because Barca’s wages are SOOo bad
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What will Messi’s wages be at PSG? Neymar is on £850k a week already. Could be over £120m a year for the team, wow.
£50m a year? No I don’t think we do tbh.
If he doesn't move people say he's safe in his comfort zone etc.
I don't see the issue. Messi probably needs a change. Barcelona need a fresh start and to be run well more than they need specific individuals. It could work out to the benefit of everyone.
And Barcelona fans should support the players they do have. Some are still very good footballers and may shine once thr club's overall direction improves.
He owes everything he has right now to the club who paid for his hormone treatment. Without that he wouldn't even have a .000001% of what he has now and he'd probably be working in the magnet factory with his Dad.
There's absolutely no one in top flight who would play for free.
And I do get you, they're all set for several lifetimes with earned money, but still don't see anyone saying 'that's it, I've earned enough'.
Sounds romantic and would be unbeliavable to see someone walking away from profit just to play the game for the boyhood club, but sadly don't think we'll ever see that, not from biggest stars who only want more and more no matter how much they've already earned.
feckin hell I thought it was a kid before I played the video.
It's a grown man
feck's sake.
He's repayed the club through his efforts on the pitch. Like any club - individual relationship, it's never one sided. Sir Alex/Sir Bobby and Manchester United, for example, gave each other everything rather one being in debt to the other (although many of us probably do feel that way about the great man).
If not Barca, some other club would have picked him and paid those medical bills.
Barca gave him so much and he paid them equally well with 15 years of exceptional performance which won't be matched for years to come.
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I agree with Anka's sentiment, but surely if a "normal" company were spending a high percentage of their revenue on wages, paying their workers such high salaries... this wouldn't be considered hyper-capitalism - they'd be considered quite an ethical company wouldn't they?
Although ofcourse in football situation the players are assets/products aren't they.
Sickening.
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PSG are going to be terrifying next season.
They'll probably still go out in the SF of the CL though
They'll probably still go out in the SF of the CL though
None of the Argentinian clubs would befpre he went to Spain, because the whole country was swamped in a massive recession.
Of course whether any other European clubs would have taken the punt is another thing. There are no guarantees, but he ended up in Barcelona due to family ties and here he is today, because of what they did for him.
He could learn a thing or two from Sir Bobby, instead it looks like he is going to high tail it out of there for some oil money.
I think so too. With the team they have they should be competing for the league title. I am assuming they register the newly signed players.
To win the champions League, they would have to fix the defense. And get a big name player. They will get one anyway. They always have one player like that.
You're not getting the point which is that club legends aren't in this huge debt to their respective clubs. Same with us and our legends. Odd view to hold tbh.
Says it all that the only clubs in contention are City and PSG
Of course we don't know how it would have gone if some other club had signed him. Barca signed him, he proved his worth and repaid them for 15 years of exceptional performance. He was paid well and Barca were served well, winning 3 CLs by being the best player.
Not sure what more he can do, he accepted to take wage cut and also to be paid over 5 years, even for free they can't register him as they had to cut down the wages first.
Messi wasting last years of his career in Ligue 1 would be a shocker. Doubt it'd even work that well, Messi, Neymar, Mbappe front line would be quality but also totally unmanageable.
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