Messi takes huge pay cut to stay at Barca
MADRID. — Lionel Messi has agreed to stay at Barcelona on a deal until 2026 that includes reducing his wages to half of his previous salary.
The announcement is dependent on player departures that will allow Barca to fund the Argentina captain’s wages.
Messi, 34, was a free agent after his contract — which reportedly paid him £123 million a year — expired on 30 June.
He is on holiday after winning the Copa America and the finer details of the contract are yet to be finalised. Re-signing Messi was the principal summer target of new chairman Joan Laporta. Barca are also looking at a swap deal involving forward Antoine Griezmann and Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez, with the idea of reducing the wage bill.
Fringe players such as Junior Firpo, JeanClair Todibo and Carles Alena have already been sold to free up budget, but other bigname departures will also need to take place.
Messi had been linked with moves to Paris St-Germain and Manchester City, where he would be reunited with his former boss at Barcelona Pep Guardiola, as well as America’s Major League Soccer, which he has previously considered experiencing.
Messi is Barcelona’s record scorer with 672 goals and has won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues, seven Copa del Reys as well as claiming the Ballon d’Or on a record six occasions. Meanwhile, Messi will never be able to better Diego Maradona “even if he wins four World Cups in a row”, according to Argentina football legend Mario Kempes.
The forward finally ended his international drought with the Albiceleste after claiming a long-awaited maiden Copa America triumph against Brazil on Saturday.
It leaves the World Cup as the lone major honour the 34-year-old is yet to collect for club — with Barcelona — and country, but now Kempes has claimed that, for all his achievements, he will always be in the shadow of his late compatriot, a cultural icon within his home country and around the world.
“For Messi, the misfortune is that he was the replacement for Diego Maradona,” Kempes, who won the World Cup in 1978, told ESPN . “And it is very difficult to overshadow
Diego, with the idolatry that he has received around the world
“If [Messi] wants to be better than Maradona, he is not going to achieve it even if he wins four World Cups in a row.
“He still hasn’t won the World Cup. No matter how many [titles he] wins or what he wins, it can never be compared to what Diego did.” Messi’s success at the weekend has further intensified debate over whether he can be considered the greatest modern footballer of all time or whether Cristiano Ronaldo — who enjoyed national success with Portugal at Euro 2016 — is his equal or superior. — BBC Sport/Goal.com.