Spanish newspaper El Mundo claims to have obtained a copy of Lionel Messi’s contract with Barcelona, saying the figures confirm that the star’s business is the biggest in the sport’s history.
According to the report, Messi would receive a maximum of € 555,237,619 ($ 673,919,105) over four seasons, if a series of conditions were met.
The contract was signed in November 2017 and expires on June 30 this year, when Messi will leave Camp Nou if there is no agreement with the club about an extension.
Messi tried to leave Barcelona last summer, arguing that a clause in the agreement allowed him to step away for free, before backing down.
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The size of Barça’s financial commitment to Messi, 33, is one of several deals that have left the club’s accounts in a dangerous position.
The most recent set of accounts revealed that Barça’s total debt is over one billion euros and players’ salaries account for almost three-quarters of the club’s budget.
The El Mundo report – which was released late on Saturday – said that Messi’s 30-page contract led Barcelona to agree to pay € 138 million per season, including variables.
It included a € 115,225,000 subscription bonus for accepting the renewal and a € 77,929,955 “loyalty” bonus.
The newspaper claims that, five months from the end of the deal, Messi has already won € 511,540,545.
📰 Cover of EL MUNDO on Sunday 31st of January. It is also available in Orbyt and in our digital edition with the best information #ContractMessi pic.twitter.com/7eSiodkSCb
– EL MUNDO (@elmundoes) January 30, 2021
The contract coincided with Barcelona’s decline as a force at the highest level in Europe.
Messi led the team to win the La Liga in 2018 and 2019, but the Champions League avoided them, being drastically eliminated from the competition by Rome, Liverpool and Bayern Munich in successive seasons.
These disappointments led Messi to try to force the exit in August 2020, in a move that shocked world football.
This was followed by the resignation of the president who signed Messi’s contract in 2017, Josep Maria Bartomeu, in October.
The club’s elections to choose a new president – for whom the resolution of Messi’s future will be high on the agenda – were set for January 24, but were postponed until March due to the coronavirus pandemic.