Explained: Why is Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona? Does La Liga's CVC deal have a role?

Barcelona fans have witnessed a dramatic and emotional last 24 hours as club legend Lionel Messi is officially departing the Camp Nou after spending 21 years there across various levels. The La Liga giants were unable to offer Messi a new contract despite both parties coming to terms on a new deal because La Liga's financial fair play rules would not permit them to do so, as per the Barcelona president. Here is a detailed look at what role La Liga is accused of having played in not allowing Barcelona to offer Leo Messi a new contract, triggering his exit.

Lionel Messi-Barcelona contract saga history

While Lionel Messi has enjoyed a strong relationship with Barcelona for over 20 years, the same cannot be said for the past year. Messi had tried to leave the Camp Nou in August 2020 because of a reported fallout with then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu. However, his successor Joan Laporta convinced the Argentine international to stay at the club.

Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona after 21 years

However, just one year on, Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona after the LaLiga giants were unable to fulfil the terms of the new contract that had been signed with the player due to "financial and structural obstacles." All that is known so far is that Barcelona are unable to register the contract due to LaLiga's rules on player registration. While they do not go into specifics, it is assumed that the club is referring to the league's version of the "salary cap."

This limits spending on wages and player acquisition costs based on projected club revenues and costs. Since Barcelona are in a financial crisis, with reportedly more than a billion dollars of debt, Messi's new contract cannot be registered. It seems there is a power play tussle going on between Barcelona president Joan Laporta and La Liga president Javier Tebas over the rules as both sides seem to want more control.

As per Laporta, "The salary mass is 110 per cent of the total income of the club, we don't have any margin in terms of salary. The rules and regulations of the Spanish La Liga is regulated by Financial Fair Play and we don't have any margin." 

Speaking on Barcelona's debt situation, Laporta said, "We knew that (of the situation) when we got to the club, but the numbers that have been presented to us, they are a lot worse than were exposed initially and those that we were working with. That means that the losses are more than we had expected." 

"What we are spending is a lot more than we expected and the current contracts mean that we have this salary mass of great magnitude," said the President of perhaps the most successful club in recent history being unable to keep hold of arguably the greatest football player in history.

Barcelona unhappy with LaLiga's latest deal

La Liga recently struck a deal with a private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners, which would see the league receive a cash influx of about $3.2 billion in return for 10% of future revenues and a 10% stake in a newly formed public entity. While the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid would be happy with the cash infusion, they are unhappy with its ramifications. As a result of the investment, there is a possibility that the future of the league is handed over to private investors, who might decide to redistribute funds more equally moving forward. Consequently, the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid could get a smaller share of the revenue despite generating the highest TV revenues for the league.

Speaking of the issues with LaLiga's latest deal with CVC, a club statement from Barcelona read,

"FC Barcelona considers that the operation that has been announced has not been sufficiently discussed with the clubs (the owners of the TV rights); that the amount is not congruent with the years of duration, and the deal affects part of all clubs' audiovisual rights for the next 50 years. The terms of the contract that La Liga is describing condemn Barcelona's future with regard to broadcasting rights. FC Barcelona wishes to express its surprise at an agreement driven by La Liga in which the teams' opinions, including those of FC Barcelona, have not been taken into account. There has not even been a presentation of options offered by other competitors in order to evaluate the pros and cons in a post-pandemic situation in which there are still many questions that are left unanswered."