Messi

£35 million a year at PSG, signed on a 2 year deal.

How the hell do they afford it?!
 
Why didn`t we get him? :)


Apart from that it's another reason why the game is totally fudged and out of control financially (or numbers on spreadsheets) eventually somebody will want to cash out. Then the problems start and the scheme collapses.................

Having seen him play live for Barca against UD Las Palmas he certainly rates as the best player I`ve ever seen, mind you that was 4 years ago.
 
I couldn’t quite believe Barcelona are £700m in debt and they was paying messi £100m a year it’s crazy now he’s gone to PSG who have neymar mbappe messi how can a little team in France afford that
 
Those tears when he left Barcelona when “he didn’t want to”. Maybe play for less money and stay there then instead of crying into your wallet. Still, I’m sure the £1m a week at PSG will help soften the heartbreak for him.
In La Liga, the rule is that you can't spend over 70% of your revenue on wages. Barcelona, paying all of their players', including Messi's, wages were at 110% of their income. Even without Messi's wage, i.e. if he had agreed to play for free, they would have been at 95%. As he would have been a 'new' signing, given his rolling one year contracts with the club, they wouldn't have been able to re-register him. Plus, in any case, apparently under Spanish employment law he couldn't have taken more than a 50% pay cut in one go. So he quite literally could not have played for them even if he had wanted to do so, either for a salary or for free. The club's an absolute shambles.

This idea that 'he should play for free if he really loves the club' is very strange to me. Why should he? He's literally the finest footballer ever to grace planet earth - why should he simply offer his services for nothing? There's an odd targeting of Barcelona's players more widely in response to this whole debacle in which the club finds itself (Umtiti, for example, got booed in their last friendly apparently, for refusing to take a paycut or leave the club), rather than the fatcats who have put the club in this position. Why should the players have to sacrifice money that is legally theirs because the men signing the cheques got carried away every summer?
 
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In La Liga, the rule is that you can't spend over 70% of your revenue on wages. Barcelona, paying all of their players', including Messi's, wages were at 110% of their income. Even without Messi's wage, i.e. if he had agreed to play for free, they would have been at 95%. As he would have been a 'new' signing, given his rolling one year contracts with the club, they wouldn't have been able to re-register him. Plus, in any case, apparently under Spanish employment law he couldn't have taken more than a 50% pay cut in one go. So he quite literally could not have played for them even if he had wanted to do so, either for a salary or for free. The club's an absolute shambles.

This idea that 'he should play for free if he really loves the club' is very strange to me. Why should he? He's literally the finest footballer ever to grace planet earth - why should he simply offer his services for nothing? There's an odd targeting of Barcelona's players more widely in response to this whole debacle in which the club finds itself (Umtiti, for example, got booed in their last friendly apparently, for refusing to take a paycut or leave the club), rather than the fatcats who have put the club in this position. Why should the players have to sacrifice money that is legally theirs because the men signing the cheques got carried away every summer?
Very interesting post - I wasn't aware of the numbers and legal protocols - puts his tears in a more acceptable light.
 
Barcelona and Real Madrid massively overpaid players to try and dominate European football, then when it bit them on the a**e were the main players in the European super league fiasco to try and save themselves, they have got what they deserved.

Messi has been an all time great player and is still very good but on his way down, but the French league isn’t that strong so it might work in his favour, given the other signings PSG have made and the players already there they had better not come second in the league again though.
 
In La Liga, the rule is that you can't spend over 70% of your revenue on wages. Barcelona, paying all of their players', including Messi's, wages were at 110% of their income. Even without Messi's wage, i.e. if he had agreed to play for free, they would have been at 95%. As he would have been a 'new' signing, given his rolling one year contracts with the club, they wouldn't have been able to re-register him. Plus, in any case, apparently under Spanish employment law he couldn't have taken more than a 50% pay cut in one go. So he quite literally could not have played for them even if he had wanted to do so, either for a salary or for free. The club's an absolute shambles.

This idea that 'he should play for free if he really loves the club' is very strange to me. Why should he? He's literally the finest footballer ever to grace planet earth - why should he simply offer his services for nothing? There's an odd targeting of Barcelona's players more widely in response to this whole debacle in which the club finds itself (Umtiti, for example, got booed in their last friendly apparently, for refusing to take a paycut or leave the club), rather than the fatcats who have put the club in this position. Why should the players have to sacrifice money that is legally theirs because the men signing the cheques got carried away every summer?
I've not really been following this, so what is Barcelona's punishment for breaking this La Liga rule?
 
I've not really been following this, so what is Barcelona's punishment for breaking this La Liga rule?
Currently they are not allowed to play in La Liga. However I'm sure there will be a mutual agreement for them to start the season whilst the transfer window remains open, but they still need to offload a handful of players on high wages, or negotiate paycuts.
 
I've not really been following this, so what is Barcelona's punishment for breaking this La Liga rule?
I suppose they got the ultimate punishment they’ve lost the best player to ever play the game and they lost him for free and all the money that come with having him in your team
 
Very interesting post - I wasn't aware of the numbers and legal protocols - puts his tears in a more acceptable light.
Have to admit, I'm just regurgitating what I've seen written about it this week in various media outlets / heard on football podcasts, it still doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me. For instance, I doubt this summer alone they went from 70% of their turnover to 110%, so why weren't they prevented from registering players last season? Why has this only happened now? I remember them having to do that flash sale of e.g. Rakitic and Suarez last year but even so they were surely still over the 70% threshold?
I've not really been following this, so what is Barcelona's punishment for breaking this La Liga rule?
As I understand it, this isn't so much a retrospective punishment (La Liga lamely saying, 'hey! You can't pay players that much!' as Barcelona stand there nonchalantly clutching their various trophies), but more a prospective one. 'You're over the threshold? Fine - you can't register any more players. Good luck.' As in, they haven't yet actually broken any rules (because they haven't registered Messi, for example), and the league is effectively taking steps to prevent giving them the opportunity to do so (by simply refusing to allow them to register new players). Hence this bizarre situation where it looks like Depay and Aguero might not actually be able to play for them until they shift some of their legacy big earners (like Umtiti - which explains the fans' anger).

That's my understanding, anyway - and if that's correct, you have to say fair play to La Liga imo. Finally some FFP rules actually baring teeth and cracking down on the big boys.
 
Those tears when he left Barcelona when “he didn’t want to”. Maybe play for less money and stay there then instead of crying into your wallet. Still, I’m sure the £1m a week at PSG will help soften the heartbreak for him.


This explains the reasons why Messi couldn’t stay at Barcelona even if he played for free.

The celebration of this move to PSG confirms the tawdry, greedy, corporate nature of modern top flight football. Is there anything to celebrate from this?

We see a bloke sobbing because he can’t play for Barcelona for a pay cut to a mere £150k a week and then five minutes later, he’s all smiles earning £1m a week. There were people clapping him at that press conference! It’s insane. And yet fanboys, glory supporters and the sports media lap it up. Nowhere have I seen the criticism of this move - it’s a bizarre celebration of greed.

I hope nothing but s**t results and failure for PSG.
 
it seems La Liga are applying their equivalent of FFP correctly, and more stringently than EFL are

meanwhile Messi is doing his own version of crying all the way to the bank (in France)
 
Despite their incredible wealth, PSG didn't even win Ligue 1 last season. Lille did, who now seem to have money troubles. I guess that embarrassment justifies going out and getting Messi. I just hope the Strasbourg defence have had their Weetabix Saturday morning before they potentially face a front 3 of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi (who probably earn several times Strasbourg's wage bill on their own).

As others have said, it's those running Barcelona that should be copping some stick. If you dish out these contracts then you are accountable, don't try to gaslight everyone else into a European Super League and say it's what the game needs. What the game needs is responsible owners and a level playing field.
 
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