Laporta & Tebas to hold key meeting in relation to Messi's Barcelona future

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has arranged a meeting with the La Liga president Javier Tebas for Thursday to find a solution for the club's salary cap problem which is conditioning Lionel Messi's renewal.

If the result of the meeting is positive and both parties reach an understanding, the possibility of Messi signing a new deal soon will increase significantly.

Friday's meeting will not be definitive in terms of Messi's renewal, because there are still other issues to resolve, but it's currently one of the main obstacles.

Laporta and his vice president Rafa Yuste are carrying out the negotiations with Messi and his father, Jorge, who is also his agent.

There have been significant advances but the final OK is still lacking. The La Liga salary cap issue is a difficult one to sort out.

Said organisation, to guarantee the sustainability of the clubs, agreed that all clubs spendings would be capped in relation to revenue in the following formula: Revenue - non-sporting spending = sporting spending (salary cap).

Laporta has found that Barça's revenue has dropped massively over the last season due to the pandemic (300 million euros) and the wage bill was too high.

Between one aspect and the other, the club are obliged to notably cut their players' salaries. The cap in 2019-20, pre-pandemic, was 671 million but it now must be reduced by over 200 million.

Messi's contract is the largest. The club, therefore, are proposing a long-term deal that includes two years as a player and another as an ambassador, possibly while playing in Major League Soccer.

The club are trying to pay Messi over a number of seasons but La Liga will not accept that formula. Tebas warned last week that Barça must do more to register Messi.

On Friday, Laporta hopes the two can find a breakthrough to ensure Messi stays at Barça and in the Spanish league.