Lionel Messi and Barcelona will file a lawsuit against Spanish newspaper El Mundo after releasing details of the striker’s record contract on Sunday.
El Mundo published documents relating to Messi’s four-year agreement, signed in 2017, and gave an intricate split of the € 555 million he would receive if all add-ons were fulfilled. The report states that Messi’s contract is the biggest ever signed by an athlete.
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Sources confirmed to ESPN that Messi will take action against El Mundo and any Barça official involved in the leak of the contract. There are only four copies of the contract – Messi has one, Barça has another, La Liga has one and also Cuatrecasas, the law firm used by the Argentine international.
Barça, meanwhile, responded by denying any involvement in the leak of the contract and said it would also take “appropriate legal action” against the newspaper.
“In view of the information published today El Mundo, regarding the professional contract signed between FC Barcelona and player Lionel Messi, the club regrets its publication because it is a private document governed by the principle of confidentiality between the parties,” the club Catalan said in a statement.
“FC Barcelona categorically denies any responsibility for the publication of this document and will take the appropriate legal measures 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 damage his relationship with the entity he worked for 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) in 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 divided into two payments – as revealed by ESPN in November.
Messi also earns about € 72 million annually, plus add-ons to play more than 60% of games over the course of a season, progress in the Champions League, win La Liga or Copa del Rey and win The Best of FIFA.
Several of these performance-related additions have not been met and it should also be noted that Messi accepted a cut in salary when the coronavirus pandemic affected football for the first time last March.
Therefore, he will not receive all of the € 555 million entered into the contract, which expires on 30 June.
Messi’s future also remains unknown. He tried to leave the club last summer, but was closed by then President Josep Maria Bartomeu.
In a recent interview, he explained that he has not yet made a decision about his future and will decide his next step when the season ends.
Since pressing to leave, Bartomeu has left Camp Nou and a new president will be elected on March 7. All three presidential candidates – Joan Laporta, Victor Font and Toni Friexa – expressed a desire to keep Messi in the club.
However, negotiations on a new agreement cannot begin until March and the new terms are expected to correspond to the new financial situation of the club.
The club’s annual accounts, dated August 2020, revealed earlier this month that the Catalan club’s gross debt increased to almost € 1.2 billion.