Barcelona's decision to leave Lionel Messi hanging was ‘not purely financial’

Catalan media mogul and one of the investors in Barca Studios Jaume Roures has claimed that Barcelona’s decision to let Lionel Messi’s contract expire and withdraw their renewal offer was not exclusively down to financial reasons.

In August of 2021, Messi flew back from his holidays to sign a new deal with Barcelona, and after being told that Barcelona could not do a deal, gave a tearful farewell press conference. He would sign with Paris Saint-Germain the following week, in one of the most painful episodes in Barcelona history.

Roures has told Cadena SER that it was not only the fact that Barcelona could not register his contract within their salary limit, but also due to ‘personal reasons’ that he did not re-sign – ‘and I wouldn’t put my neck on the line to say which was more important’. Roures says that Messi’s camp had urged the Blaugrana to make signings in spite of their financial plight.

“They told Barcelona that they had to sign and there were people who didn’t take it well. They took it as misplaced pressure and that clash that ended up favouring a departure due to sporting demands and the signings.”

Nevertheless, Messi was convinced that he was signing a new contract with the Blaugrana when he returned to the city, while it was not the case.

Even if there were those within the club that did not appreciate the way Messi’s camp went about things, without the ability to register his contract, it would remain somewhat redundant. It does continue a line of reporting in Messi’s later years at Barcelona painting him as a burden on the club, both in terms of his financial package, and his influence on the decision-makers at the club. An idea that has been fiercely contested of course.