El Mundo published the complete details of Lionel Messi’s contract with Barcelona yesterday. He earned a whopping €555m for 4 years after signing the contract in 2017. The astounding numbers have come under heavy criticism as Barcelona are on the verge of going bankrupt.
Lionel Messi is angry with the situation and wants to sue the one who leaked the contract details. The contract is a piece of private information between a player and a club and Messi is frustrated at the way he has been portrayed.
Now, a recent report by Sport has come up, which states that Lionel Messi generates more than he earns at Barcelona.
Marc Ciria, the founder and CEO of the company Diagonal Inversiones and a Barça partner, together with Josep Fabra, financier, and Ivan Cabeza, economist, has calculated exactly what Lionel Messi has generated economically for Barcelona since 2017.
According to the report, the conclusion is conclusive and has not considered the current season, vitiated by the pandemic: Messi has cost the club €383,655,000 but has generated €619,265,000 in the same period of time. A simple subtraction yields a positive balance for the entity of €235,610,000. So it’s pretty much clear that Messi generates much more than he earns.
Ciria acknowledges that “there are different methodologies and we lack information about the club, but it is clear that the competitive level has to do with its franchise man. Leo is the epicentre of the club’s business. How do you create that business? Scoring goals ”.
He further adds that, in addition, “the sponsorship contracts have a price with him and another without him. It is the ‘Messi clause’ and it can reach 50% of the total ”. Add to this the quantifiable income from “ticketing, boxes or t-shirts (eight out of ten sold bear his name).”
Ciria concludes by saying: “Messi is more important today than in 2008-2009 because then we had a competitive team. It sure had less economic impact then than now. It is not only that it provides more value, but it is essential for the club’s economic recovery ”.
“It has cost more money to PSG than Leo to Barça. In addition to the 222 million of his clause, plus 90 million of salary, his effectiveness with the goal is worse. Neymar is cost and Messi is investment ”
Lionel Messi is arguably the best player, so it’s absolutely normal that he earns around €138m per season. More importantly, he generated a surplus of €235m since 2017. It clearly states the importance of Lionel Messi to Barcelona, both on and off the field.
