Financial Fair Play Hampers Messi’s Comeback to Barcelona

Madrid: This week it became known that Leo Messi will leave PSG at the end of the season. At the end of April negotiations broke down and his continuity is totally ruled out and even more after the events of recent days in which the player has been rebuked by fans and the club has sanctioned him with a two-week suspension for going to Saudi Arabia.

The question is where he will play next season. Joan Laporta is still determined to bring him to Barcelona, but everything indicates that the player will not be able to.

This topic was raised in an opinion article written by Luis Rojo and published by the Spanish MARCA.

According to the writer, there are several factors that at the moment almost definitively keep the Argentine away from the Catalan club, even though the board of directors continues to fuel the possibility.

Luis Rojo believes that the main stumbling block is Financial Fair Play. Barcelona haven’t managed to reduce expenses nor increase income sufficiently to make room for the Argentine. And it is not a problem that is limited to Messi, it also affects the rest of possible signings such as Inigo Martinez or Ilkay Gundogan.

Then there is the matter of the inscriptions of players like Gavi, Araujo, Balde and Inaki Pena. All of them are in line to join the first team and this aspect is fundamental for the club.

The problem is that Barcelona have to hurry. Messi is not going to wait forever for Barcelona. And the club at the moment cannot guarantee him a place in the squad. First of all because the viability plan has not been approved by LaLiga. And if it is approved, they have to implement it. That means starting with the sale of players to have space in the wage bill.

There is also plenty of competition for his signature, with clubs from the US and Saudi Arabia able and willing to pay over the odds for him.