Farewell Messi?

The dark day is upon us, Messi is officially not renewing with Barcelona and will not be a Barcelona player come next season.

It’s hard to really take in this news for all of us right now. A player who has been with the club throughout, is leaving when he doesn’t even want to. The club statement does express the fact that Messi and Barcelona did want to renew and had an agreement in place, but the problem is of course the La Liga financial restrictions. The club did post a few tweets and a video compilation. The farewell couldn’t have been worse. Such an important player in the club’s history is leaving without the fans, without a proper farewell. It all seems really weird and it’s also been suggested lately in the media that it could be a power play by La Liga, almost as revenge for the European Super League. There are still many days left in the transfer window, so this does feel a bit early to say you have tried it all. Messi leaving would spell great losses for La Liga as well and this announcement could be a play by Barça to make La Liga bend their rules. Reports have also said that Real Madrid and Barcelona could team up to find a solution for the betterment of the league. The situation right now is really muddled. I still think there is a tiny bit of hope for Messi to stay, but it does feel like they are playing with the emotions of the fans. The fans and reporters alike are nothing more than mere garbage for these big millionaires. The European Super League already showed us that football has already been taken over by these owners and money. The CVC deal did have some complications, including the 10% TV revenue reduction and most importantly an “anti-Super League” Clause. Conspiracies have come out saying Laporta was made to choose between the Super League and Messi. While this might seem very true, we need to understand the financial mess that Laporta inherited from Bartamaeu. The renewal of Messi might look like a short term option, but it has left the whole Barcelona fan base in tatters. This could of course be a way of Laporta to pressurize La Liga, but as it stands, Messi is officially not renewing with FC Barcelona. The drama last summer was hard to take, but this feels really different and strange in a sense. This seems like it’s beyond Messi, it’s gestures La Liga and Barcelona using Messi almost as a pawn. Nevertheless, it’s hard for us to say goodbye to such a legend. This might only be the beginning of a long saga. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. This is a blog post where I just let it all out and I would never want to have done, but circumstances do oblige, and remember it’s more than a blog.