Barcelona's financial woes are like a towering fortress, making it difficult for the Red Blues to bring in new recruits. Not only has the team been unable to register four of its preferred stars due to exceeding La Liga's salary cap, but it has even reached a stalemate in renewing Lionel Messi's contract. Once upon a time, Paris Saint-Germain offered an olive branch to Messi's father, Jorge, claiming, "Messi, we are always open". However, the latest Parisian newspaper reveals that Paris has completely died on the plan to bring Messi in, as Messi's heart still longs to stay at the Camp Nou.
Messi and Barcelona originally agreed on a 2+3 contract deal. Messi will continue to play for Barcelona as a player for the next two years, and will then play in the United States and serve as an ambassador for the team for the next three years. Messi's salary for the next two years will be spread over five years, so Messi will not suffer a financial loss and Barcelona will be relieved of salary pressure for the next two years.
However, even so, Barcelona still failed to meet the La Liga salary cap. As newspaper revealed not long ago, Messi has reached a salary reduction agreement with Barcelona. Messi's annual salary after tax will be reduced to about 30 million euros to help Barcelona successfully pass the test of the salary cap.
Against this background, Barcelona has to continue to clean up redundancies to free up salary space. Players such as Umtiti and Pjanic have been included in the termination list, and Barcelona will have to terminate their contracts if they are unable to find new owners or refuse to leave the team. As for Griezmann, who has also been pushed into the transfer market by Barcelona, the Frenchman's annual salary after tax is as high as €20 million. Without cleaning Griezmann, it will be almost impossible for Barcelona to sign Messi back.
