How a €300m bank deposit in Luxembourg changed Lionel Messi's contract

How a €300m bank deposit in Luxembourg changed Lionel Messi's contract

This is what Messi has made Barça in three years per an expert / | sport

Bartomeu feared losing Messi in August 2017 just weeks after Neymar's €222m move to PSG

In August 2017, Josep Maria Bartomeu, the Barcelona president at the time, and his directors had a few anxious days. The season prior hadn't been great, but it ended with the Copa del Rey. After a double in 2016 and the treble in 2015, the team and the board seemed to have unlimited credit.

On top of that, some news had come out that had been wildly celebrated across the club. I am referring to the renewal of Lionel Messi's contract. After hours of negotiations, Jorge Mendes finally said yes to a new deal on June 29, 2017. He called Bartomeu and he signed, by proxy and by mail, a contract that linked his son to the club for another four years. Lionel Messi didn't sign that deal because he was in Argentina. The agreement came the day before the Barça player married Antonela Roccuzzo in the Hotel City Centre in Rosario.

So, Messi wed with a new contract and he, his family, Barça fans, Bartomeu and everyone else went on holiday with the peace of mind that everything had been resolved.

The contract had a release clause of 300 million euros and the rest of the deal wasn't very different to what appeared in El Mundo at the weekend. The figures were slightly less. At that moment, 300 million was not viewed as a price any team could play, especially when the player has publicly spoken of his desire to end his career at Barça.

Bartomeu y Messi, en una imagen de archivo

| FCB

However, a month later, on August 3, the news arrived that Neymar's lawyers had paid his 222 million euro release clause ahead of his move to Paris Saint-Germain. The bombshell caught Bartomeu by surprise. However, that could hardly be compared with what was later heard in the club's offices.

A person of confidence tipped Bartomeu off that a bank in Luxembourg had deposited 300 million euros in an account from a country in the Gulf with the intention of buying a footballer. Losing Neymar seemed a disaster, but letting Messi escape would have been a tragedy. Therefore, less than two months after agreeing a new contract, Bartomeu phoned Jorge Messi and proposed renegotiating the contract.

"I want to increase the clause," the president said to the player's father. It's said that Jorge Messi, surprised, accepted but warned that the numbers would have to go up. And that's what happened. The fear of another Neymar case led to a new contract that was eventually signed in November. Everyone now knows the numbers of the deal.

That contract signed in June 2017 by Jorge and, in September by Leo, only lasted five months. The Messis didn't understand what happened but took advantage of the circumstances to make more money. Not much, mind, say sources close to the negotiations. The clause went up to 700 million euros and Barça fans breathed easy.

The total amount of the deal is well known. Figures the club could pay at the time because of how much Messi generates but questioned now because of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the club. We will never know if the money deposited in Luxembourg was to sign Messi, but it was the first time Bartomeu acted to avoid losing him. The second time was last summer after the famous burofax.

Now it's up to the new president. In the middle of an election campaign and with the numbers on the table, there are still experts that believe Messi could charge more. In any case, it would be nice if, leaks aside, Messi could strike and agreement with the club and become, like Carles Puyol, a one-club man. On March 7, when a new president is elected, his first call should be to Messi. Barça, without Messi, is less Barça.

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