Real Madrid suspect Barcelona of FFP violation in Lionel Messi's mammoth contract

Over the weekend, a report from a Spanish newspaper revealed that Barcelona captain Lionel Messi might be in possession of the largest contract in sports history. Now, Barcelona's arch-rivals, Real Madrid, have raised suspicion over whether the Catalans breached UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules while offering Messi his blockbuster contract in 2017. It is believed that the reigning Spanish champions are miffed considering that they had gone to great lengths to remain within the FFP requirements while selling their star player Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 and trimming their wage bill, which saw multiple exits and no major signings in the summer.

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Real Madrid dubious over Barcelona breaching FFP violations with Messi contract leak

According to a report in Marca, 13-time European champions, Real Madrid, have raised question marks over Lionel Messi's blockbuster four-year contract with Barcelona. Earlier on Sunday, a leaked report from El Mundo regarding Lionel Messi's contract at Barcelona highlighted that the 33-year-old might be the highest-paid athlete in the world of sports. The report claimed that Messi is set to earn a whopping €555m by the end of the summer if all add-ons were met. 

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Messi's contract included a signing-on bonus of €115,225,000 and a €77,929,955 loyalty bonus for just putting pen to paper. A breakdown of Messi's contract highlights that the Argentine earns a reported €138,000,000 per season plus bonuses. Messi and Barcelona were reportedly furious with the contract leak and plan to take legal action against the newspaper.

However, the leaked report appears to have alerted Real Madrid, who have raised questions over whether Barcelona violated the FFP rules with Messi's mammoth contract. The report claims that Real Madrid were in fact confused as to how Barcelona are €1 billion in debt with €730 million of the amount due in the short-term despite the FFP rules in place. It is believed that Los Blancos now feel vindicated in their long-held belief that Messi's contract was in severe breach of FFP rules.

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Sources claim that Neymar's contract with PSG and Cristiano Ronaldo's agreement with Juventus are known to be two of the biggest contracts handed out in recent years, but the value of those deals doesn't even come close to what Barcelona agreed to pay Messi. Real Madrid eventually parted ways with Ronaldo in 2018 but it was in 2012 that the club decided against offering Ronaldo a hefty deal in order to balance the books. 

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Image Credits - Leo Messi Instagram, AP