The Lionel Messi renewal saga took the sharpest of tangential turns when exit rumors started to hit the fan and within a couple of hours, Barcelona shockingly announced his departure.
Part of the reason why everyone assumed things were going well with Messi’s extension was because president Joan Laporta had kept reassuring everyone that the negotiations were progressing well all along. Hence no foulplay of any sort was expected, especially from a former club president who had sealed his presidential return based solely on his campaign promise of making sure club talisman Messi would never leave the club.
More importantly, La Liga’s bumper deal with CVC meant an injection of cash into the clubs, with Barcelona getting nearly €270 million, making Leo’s registration easy.
Oddly since then, Laporta has publicly talked the club out of the deal, explaining how it would impact the Blaugrana for at least five decades to come. In a sudden turnaround, La Liga president Javier Tebas has hit out at Laporta, saying that the latter had initially agreed to the deal at a dinner they had earlier.
“We had dinner with Laporta on the 15th of July and the documents for the CVC agreement were reviewed. At the time, he agreed and was excited about Messi’s renewal.”
What’s been crucially revealed is that although the CVC deal would have allowed for Barcelona to register Messi, it wouldn’t allow them to participate in the European Super League, as per reports.
The Super League is, apparently, still on, despite all Premier League clubs, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and AC Milan pulling out of it. In fact, apart from Real Madrid and Juventus, Barcelona and Laporta himself are very much rooting for it.
Either way, the onus now falls on Laporta to not only guide a team without the greatest footballer of all time, but to justify the stance they have adopted.