If Barcelona’s desire to bring Lionel Messi back was a ‘spoken secret’ over the last season, it is now a confirmed objective for the Blaugrana, as per the comments made by Vice-President Rafa Yuste. The reasons go beyond the pitch too.
While Messi would obviously represent a major jump in quality for Barcelona in terms of technique, and an emotional catharsis, MD say he would also bring major economic benefits.
According to their information, his presence was worth around €250-300m to Barcelona before he left. A number of sponsors joined Paris Saint-Germain when Messi did too.
Now the Catalan daily say that if they can just get Messi’s over the line and registered, then Barcelona would be able to increase their income by 25%, with the optimistic estimate lying at around a third.
While these estimates do seem optimistic, there are no doubt advantages to having one of the biggest names in endorsement amongst your ranks.
The big question will be whether Barcelona forge ahead with plans to play at Montjuic next season, as they would not be making full use of Messi’s presence if he signed. In this hypothetical, the capacity of their home gates would be halved, with the club no doubt wanting to take advantage of the opportunity of marketing Messi.
