On Thursday evening Barcelona shocked 😲 the world when they released a statement announcing that Leo Messi will not continue with them due to "financial and structural obstacles".
You will recall that the 34-year-old Argentine has been free agent since 1 July, had been set to sign a new deal to extend his 21-year stay at the Nou Camp.
For this to happen Barcelona needed to sell players to fund the deal - reducing their wage bill by about 200m euros (£172m) to meet La Liga's Financial Fair Play (FFP) requirements - and are yet to achieve this. Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho - among others - remain on their books.
"In their statement it seems that Barcelona and Messi agree - they are on the same side. Instead it seems the financial situation of the club, regulations of La Liga... and the bottom line was not meeting the FFP regulations."
However, revelations has emerged and the real reason why Messi contract renewal did not materialise has been revealed. The real reason is power tussle between and Barça president, Joan Laporta and La Liga president Javier Tebas, whose salary cap regulations are preventing Messi and Barca from signing the new contract the club claim they have both agreed.
The backdrop is Barca's crippling financial situation and their connected ongoing desire to form a European Super League, which club president Joan Laporta has continued to pursue along with his Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez.
Crucially, La Liga has just announced a major new deal with investment fund CVC, which would immediately hand Barca about £200m - enough to re-sign Messi. To receive that, however, the club would have to sign a long-term commitment to La Liga, renouncing the idea of a Super League.
And minutes after Barca's statement, Real Madrid released their own, saying the CVC deal was done "without the involvement or knowledge" of the club and saying they cannot support the venture.
Laporta is saying to La Liga president Javier Tebas: 'Well, let's see what your new investment fund partner makes of a league without Messi. Your move.'
What that move will be... who knows? But this multi-billion-dollar game of chess is not over. Laporta has called 'check'. But it's not necessarily 'checkmate'.
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