Lionel Messi finally leaves Barcelona
After 20 years of scintillating football career, Argentina playmaker, Lionel Messi, finally ends his successful career with Barcelona after the superstar failed to reach an agreement on a new deal with the club, Barcelona announced on Thursday.
Reports recently claimed that Messi and Barcelona have reached an agreement to sign a new contract, but the deal failed to happen due to LaLiga financial regulations.
“Although an agreement has been reached between FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi, it cannot be formalised due to economic and structural obstacles,” the club said in a statement.
“Faced with this situation, Lionel Messi will not remain linked to Barcelona. Both sides deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot come true.”
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There has been a radical turnaround in the case of Messi’s renewal with Barcelona, with recent information being that the deal was close to being announced, yet a blockbuster revelation has suggested that Barcelona will now not be able to re-sign the Argentine.
Recent reports claimed that an investment made by CVC into LaLiga would make it easier for the Barcelona to stay under the salary cap with Messi taking a 50% pay cut.
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While the cash injection would help, Barcelona still can’t still afford Messi’s wage bill.
Considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards,[note 2] a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team.
Messi spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 34 trophies, which includes 10 LaLiga titles, 7 Copa del Rey and 4 UEFA Champions Leagues.
Messi is a born prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, holds the records for most goals in LaLiga (474), a LaLiga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in LaLiga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in LaLiga (192), a LaLiga and European league season (21) .
Scored over 750 senior career goals for Barcelona and Argentina, and has the most goals ever by a player for a single club.