It’s over. Lionel Messi will no longer continue at Barcelona and will leave the club for pastures new according to a statement released by the Catalan giants on Thursday evening. Barcelona revealed that they reached an agreement with the Argentine to renew his expired contract, but that it couldn’t be confirmed due to economic and structural obstacles laid down by La Liga.
This is very interesting. Real Madrid release a statement of opposition to La Liga's CVC investment plan. Which coincided with Barcelona's statement attacking La Liga's financial obstacles for them to re-sign Messi. A cynic could argue this is a co-ordinated attack on La Liga. https://t.co/31QtcJo7m4
— Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) August 5, 2021
Faced with this situation, Messi will leave the club he joined as a pimply-faced teenager. Both parties, according to the statement, deeply regret the situation and the fact that the wishes of neither the club nor the player could be fulfilled. Barcelona thanked Messi in their statement for his contribution to the growth of the club and wished him the best in his personal and professional life.
No es estrategia lo de Messi y el @FCBarcelona_es. Dicen que no hay vuelta atrás. Y lo comentan gente muy metida en el asunto. #messiOUT
— José Félix Díaz (@jfelixdiaz) August 5, 2021
No sooner had the statement been released, however, that conspiracy theories began to emerge. Some, like Colin Millar, began to speculate whether this is a power-play from Barcelona to force La Liga to loosen their salary cap and make it easier for them to renew Messi and register their new singings; Jose Felix Diaz, however, shot down that idea, ensuring that it wasn’t part of a wider strategy according to sources close to the move.
