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Lionel Messi and Barcelona will take legal action against Spanish daily El Mundo after it published the leaked details of the forward’s record contract on Sunday.
El Mundo published documents related to Messi’s four-year deal, signed in 2017, and gave an intricate breakdown of the 555 million euros he would receive if all the add-ons were met. The report claimed that Messi’s contract is the largest ever signed by an athlete.
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Sources have confirmed to ESPN that Messi will take action against El Mundo and any Barça personnel involved in the leak of the contract. There are only four copies of the contract: Messi has one, Barça has another, La Liga has a copy and also Cuatrecasas, the law firm used by the Argentine international.
Barça, for its part, responded by denying any involvement in the leak of the contract and said that it would also take “the relevant legal actions” against the newspaper.
“In view of the information published today El Mundo, in relation to the professional contract signed between FC Barcelona and the player Lionel Messi, the club regrets its publication since it is a private document governed by the principle of confidentiality between the parties “. the Catalan club said in a statement.
“FC Barcelona categorically denies any responsibility for the publication of this document, and will take appropriate legal action against the newspaper El Mundo, for any damage that may be caused as a result of this publication.
FC Barcelona expresses its absolute support for Lionel Messi, especially in the face of any attempt to discredit his image, and to damage his relationship with the entity in which he has worked to become the best player in the world and in the history of football ”.
According to El Mundo, Messi would receive a maximum of € 555,237,619 ($ 673,919,105) over four seasons, if a series of conditions were met.
Including image rights, the report explains that Messi received a € 115 million renewal bonus and a € 77 million loyalty bonus split into two payments, ESPN revealed in November.
It is also said that Messi earns around 72 million euros a year, in addition to the complements for playing more than 60% of the games throughout a season, the progression of the Champions League, winning La Liga or the Copa del King and win The Best of FIFA.
Several of those performance-related add-ons have not been met and it should also be noted that Messi accepted a pay cut when the coronavirus pandemic first hit football last March.
Therefore, he will not earn the 555 million euros listed in the contract, which expires on June 30.
Messi’s future beyond then remains unknown. He tried to leave the club last summer, but then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu closed it down.
In a recent interview, he explained that he has yet to make a decision about his future and will decide his next step when the season ends.
Since he pressed to leave, Bartomeu left the Camp Nou and on March 7 a new president will be elected. The three presidential candidates, Joan Laporta, Victor Font and Toni Friexa, have expressed their desire to keep Messi at the club.
However, negotiations on a new agreement cannot begin until March and the new terms must correspond to the club’s new financial position.
The club’s annual accounts, dated August 2020, revealed earlier this month that the Catalan club’s gross debt has risen to almost 1,200 million euros.
