Lionel Messi’s situation at Barcelona has been a subject of speculation for more than a year now. The Argentine superstar always looked destined to finish his career at the club but as we all know, the reality of modern football is a bit different.
There were quite a few realistic scenarios for Messi to take his talents elsewhere but it does seem that he will be staying in the Catalonia capital.
Barcelona’s talisman is rumored to have agreed to a new three-year contract with the Blaugranas, squashing all the speculation surrounding a potential exit from his boyhood club.
In this article, I briefly detail what a potential new deal with Barcelona will bring to Messi and I share my thoughts on whether this is the right move for him.
What Would Messi’s New Contract at Barcelona Give Him?
If the press is to be believed, Leo won’t be getting too much more out of the new potential contract but to be quite honest, he doesn’t really need to.
He has established himself as the best generational talent in the history of football and is practically everything that Barcelona stands for at the moment.
There are two key elements that we need to highlight here and one of them is the fact that Messi’s proposed new contract will have the same release clause as the previous one.
And to be more exact, this is the “walk away for free clause” that has now become infamous.
This agreement between the Argentine and the club means that he can leave whenever he feels like it.
The supposedly agreed financial parameters of the deal look to be the same but I doubt that this was the focal point of the negotiations.
Messi was already pocketing an excess of £500, 000 per week and has been the world’s best paid footballer for years now.
This is about more than money and I feel Lionel Messi has come out on top once again and I share my my reasoning with you below.
Is Signing With Barcelona The Right Move for Messi?
The only reason this question is being asked right now is because things at the club are not exactly in top shape.
No less than six Barcelona executives handed in their resignations as recently as April and the current president Josep Maria Bartomeu is rightfully being put under the microscope after some very suspicious business he has conducted with the firm I3 Ventures.
I won’t get into too much detail regarding that but the controversy this created coupled with the key players having to take a pay cut was bound to disgruntle the Catalan squad.
I was certainly entertaining the idea of Lionel Messi leaving but there is one thing that makes his decision the right one here.
Simply put, Leo Messi is Barcelona FC right now and has been for years.
And there’s nothing wrong about that. The player has been putting world-class performances day in day out and naturally, he has moved from the status of simply being a player for this team a long time ago.
We all remember the incident when Pep Guardiola wanted to substitute him and Messi simply rejected the proposition.
Call it ego, or grandiosity but the truth is that this player has earned it.
Yes, we don’t like football athletes to oppose their managers, let alone the whole management of one of the biggest organizations in the world but Messi is not your average player.
Barcelona is interested in their commercial revenue as much as they are in winning trophies and Messi has been an absolute gift on both these fronts.
I feel like the player has earned the right to call the shots to a certain extent and if Barcelona doesn’t like it – they can simply let him go!
This is the reason why I feel the Argentine has got himself a great deal as not only he will be getting the same salary as he signed for years ago but he also leaves the door open to exit at any time if he wants.
You may not feel like that’s the right way to act when this club has given you the springboard to professional football but can you actually really blame Lionel Messi for that decision?
