There is no question that Barcelona want to sanction the return of Lionel Messi in the coming summer. The club want to bring back their prodigal son to Camp Nou, hoping it would help catapult them back to European success.
But a major obstacle for Barça in their bid to re-sign Messi is going to be the club’s financial situation. Following the election of Joan Laporta, the club have set a strict wage structure in order to control the growing salary mass of the squad.
As things stand, Robert Lewandowski is the highest-paid player in the Barcelona squad. But in the event Barcelona end up signing Messi, they would offer the player one euro more than the Pole, in order to keep him at the top of the hierarchy, reports Mundo Deportivo.
The salary won’t mean much for Messi, who has been quite patient even in the midst of lucrative offers coming from Saudi Arabia.
The return of Lionel Messi should boost Barcelona’s income by 25%. However, the club cannot conduct the operation until La Liga formally approves the Financial Feasibility Plan. The authorities have already taken a lot of time auditing the documents but are yet to provide a response.
Recent reports suggest La Liga won’t take much time now. Once the plan gets approved, Barcelona will look to ratify the contract renewals of Ronald Araujo and Gavi. Immediately after, they will kickstart the operation to sign Messi.
Joan Laporta is leading the operation and there have already been positive talks between the two parties. But with Al Hilal reportedly increasing their offer to €500 million per season, time is running out for Barça and they must move swiftly if they are to sign the Argentine in the coming summer.
