After an astonishingly long paralysis of shock, the reports and rumors rolled over on Friday evening; how could it be otherwise when an icon suddenly appears on the market? The blue Mauritius of football, the Mona Lisa of sport: Lionel Messi is available, and he doesn’t even cost a transfer. Just a couple of years of maintenance.
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A luxury collector like Chelsea’s Roman Abramowitsch used to always wait for this moment, and even if it comes very late now – Messi is 34 – the oligarch is said to have at least put his feelers into the immediate environment of the six-time world footballer. At the same time it was said that the player’s private jet was ready to take off for Nice at Barcelona Airport; where supposedly emissaries from Paris Saint-Germain waited, which in turn belongs to the Emir of Qatar.
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Chelsea. PSG. Hmm.
Which club is bigger than FC Barcelona?
Nobody can really imagine him in the jerseys of the nouveau riche. Despite the tax affair and the downright obscene record salary of up to 138 million euros, Messi was still considered a point of contact for the romantics. At the beginning of his career, because he looked so small, bustling and innocent. Later as “One Club Man”, as the English say, as someone who, despite all the crises, ultimately always remained loyal to his club. And which club is bigger than FC Barcelona?
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The club that signed him on a paper napkin at a local tennis club at the age of 13 – contractual matters were difficult even then – and financed the necessary growth therapy for him. Where he opened up so shyly that, as his classmate Cesc Fàbregas said, he couldn’t get a word out for weeks. But when he was already playing everything in his youth to such an extent that he was treated as a genius at an early age.
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The club in whose huge Camp Nou stadium almost a hundred thousand people were able to pay homage to him like a god and stimulate him like a gladiator. Where he scored five goals in a Champions League round of 16 against Bayer Leverkusen, where he reenacted the mythical solo of his compatriot Diego Maradona against the English in the Cup against Getafe, where he put Jérôme Boateng on the pants and turned countless free kicks into psychic flight curves . Where people from all over the world made a pilgrimage just to see it for real.
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The club that his shy smile could sparkle and that, in turn, gave him a career and a home from which his eldest son never wanted to leave. Thiago was already crying when Messi only flirted with it last summer.
“Where should I have it better than here?” Asked Messi’s coach Pep Guardiola just before he left FC Barcelona. But that was also a pose with Guardiola, because he was always a curious guy who was drawn out into the world. The introverted, more routinely arrested Messi on the other hand – where should he have it better?
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Maybe that’s an exciting question that he can use to get closer to himself in the uncertain epilogue of his career. In the end he couldn’t think of that much, except that at some point he still wanted to play in Miami, but that’s almost Latin America, so something well known. The desire for news from last summer, however, which was more Ennui and above all frustration with the then President Bartomeu: it seemed to have evaporated. It clicked surprisingly quickly with coach Ronald Koeman, he was enthusiastic about young talents like Pedri and Ansu Fati, and when his old president Laporta returned, all roads led to a new contract.
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Now the fixed future is over because of the club’s financial difficulties and because Messi himself is not as romantic as many of his fans would like it to be; so not in such a way that he would play for apple and egg. And even if in the first reactions everything focused on the collapsing world of FC Barcelona: The really horny one at this abrupt end of the relationship is possibly him.
Premier League or Clermont-Ferrand
The Chelsea option – Manchester City, which was highly regarded last summer, took coach Guardiola out of the running on Friday (“Not in our plans”) – would at least promote him to the spectacular Premier League. With Paris, on the other hand, he would miss a league opener in Troyes tomorrow, even in the event of a lightning deal. He could make his debut against Strasbourg next weekend, in the following in Brest and Reims or against Clermont-Ferrand in September at the latest.
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Troyes, Brest, Clermont-Ferrand.
After all, he would be playing with his old pal Neymar. The shared photos while cheering and barbecuing would certainly give a lot of Instagram likes. Maybe they would drive out Neymar’s wanderlust to the beach and the south. The Brazilian wanted to go back to Barcelona shortly after moving.
There the President rang in the future yesterday morning. Because of Messi’s inability to finance it, you have to bring it forward two years, said Laporta, and sad as it is all: after that it would have happened anyway.
Barcelona facing a new era
Laporta tried on the one hand to numb the pain of the supporters with optimism: “Now a new era begins, and I am sure that it can be splendid.” On the other hand, he painted a relentless picture of the situation. As the bookkeeping audit, which has now been completed, has shown after taking office, a loss of 487 million euros was recorded for the past season alone. Personnel costs would have been 110 percent of the budget. Compared to such figures, the question of two years more or less Messi seems almost anecdotal.
“A decision had to be made and I made it,” said Laporta, or: “Barça is above everyone, including the best player in the world.” could stop off at this club, which also became more and more megalomaniac with the figure of Messi. If things go particularly well, the breakup may even release strength. And be it through the courage of despair. To compensate for Messi’s departure, according to Laporta, “we all need to be more motivated now than ever before.”
You will probably find out about Messi’s mood and motivations when he really hits somewhere else. So far he has been wrapped in his usual silence, which somehow fits into the opaque world of the nouveau riche footballers. Last rumor from Friday evening: PSG allegedly had the Eiffel Tower reserved for an as yet unknown event on Tuesday.
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