MESSI IN LINE FOR RECORD £85m BONUS
LIONEL MESSI’S ‘signing bonus’ for agreeing a new £500,000-a-week deal at Barcelona could be a record-breaking £85million. It is common for clubs to include a signing-on fee or renewal bonus in contracts but Messi’s — estimated to be between £79m-£85m — is thought to be the highest ever. Barcelona hope to have a naming-rights sponsor for the Nou Camp as early as next season to help them pay for it. Catalan paper L’Ara said this week that Barcelona’s wage bill as a percentage of overall revenue is now at 84 per cent, at £430m. Messi’s bonus is not included in that sum because it would be spread over the years of his new deal and is not part of his wages. Barca hope to announce a new Nike contract next year as they try to boost revenue to meet the wage and bonus bills. Their stadium could bear a sponsor’s name by next season. Work on the ‘New Nou Camp’ is not scheduled to start until 2019 but the stadium could have another name soon, with sports business company Van Wagner studying options. The club could put a sponsor’s name to directors and fans early in the new year. A brand could be attached to the stadium for the next 25 years and raise up to £179m. Messi’s hat-trick against Ecuador earlier this week means Argentina do not have to play a World Cup qualifier next month, though they may organise friendlies. That means Messi, 30, will probably have a chance to sign his new contract in the next international break. The deal, keeping him at Barca until 2021, has already been signed by his father Jorge and brother Rodrigo but still lacks the player’s signature. Messi has been reluctant to give Barcelona’s under-fire president Josep Bartomeu a ‘vote-of-confidence’ opportunity and may sign with no photographer present. That would calm fans’ fears that he will talk to other clubs in January while denying Bartomeu the opportunity to parade Messi’s signing as a personal success.