Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi

Barcelona has announced that

Lionel Messi leaves Barcelona

due to "financial and structural constraints" that prevented his contract from being renewed. After his contract ended in June, the forward, who has spent his entire career there, was anticipated to re-sign. However, to fans disbelief, it is not possible to contain the power of this considered best in the world once again.

agreed in principle to a five-year contract with a lower salary last month, rather than the two-year extension that had been negotiated.

The arrangement was supposed to keep Barcelona inside the confines of La Liga's financial fair play rules, but that proved to be impossible. Thus, Messi had to leave the club and pay the price which would cost Barcelona to not cross the limitations of La Liga.

Barcelona needed to send players out in order to renew Messi's contract, but they were unable to do it. The league's salary restriction restricts the team, which has a total debt of almost €1,173 million.

The 34-year-old athlete has agreed to a 50% wage cut, falling from a base salary of over €45 million after taxes to around €20 million. To move out young players just to keep one player who is 34 years old at the moment doesn’t seem to be a good idea, especially in long term.

Details of Barcelona’s farewell to Lionel Messi

In this article we would exclusively go through Messi’s career with a focus on his early career and the place that he started from, we would cover everything about his departure and possible transfers and finally we will go over the opinions of his teammates and Messi himself on this particular matter.

If you want to learn more about Lionel Messi we have already prepared a

which you are more than welcome to check out.

We don’t intend to keep you waiting any longer, thus let us get into the details of

Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi

.

Lionel Messi prime years

Lionel Messi was a barrel full of gunpowder begging for a spark to blowout the whole Argentina and Spain and eventually the world. That spark happened on October 16, 2004 after Barcelona transfer news confirmed Messi’s transfer. Messi came on as a substitute for nine minutes in a Catalan derby against Espanyol.

If Messi knew that he would score hundreds of goals with relative ease maybe that first goal for Barcelona at the age of 17 would have been so joy-inducing for him.

On May 1, 2005, Messi scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Albacete, becoming him the youngest player to ever score for Barcelona in the league (he has since been surpassed).

Coach

pulled Messi off the bench for his ninth outing in the 87th minute. He scored a minute later, chipping the ball past the goalie. It was called out for offside (despite the fact that it wasn't), but Messi did it again minutes later, this time with an even better chipped finish.

It took Messi some time to actually find his way into the main squad.  Barca realized they had an all-world talent in their roster once he was fully incorporated into the first team.

As a result, they acted fast in June 2005, offering him a new deal that would keep him at the club until 2010. The contract featured an eye-catching release clause, which meant that anyone wanting to sign the 18-year-old would have to pay a world-record transfer price.

Thoughts about Lionel Messi performance

Messi played for Barcelona for almost 2 decades. He won many awards and the hearts of the fans with his amazing talents. Many have tried to praise him with words, which has proven to be impossible because limited vocabulary can’t contain the greatness of this tornado.

Barcelona tried to keep Messi as long as they could. Joan Laporta, who served as president from 2003 to 2010 and was re-elected this year, said in 2020 that in 2006, Barcelona turned down a world-record $467 million (€250 million) proposal from Inter Milan. "They were willing to pay... but my friendship with his father, Jorge, gave me peace of mind.

'They'll have to pay the clause because I'm not selling,' I informed him. He'll be content here, and he'll be rewarded for his efforts. He'll only come out ahead financially there.

Your son is destined to be the greatest athlete in history, and he'll have a squad to assist him along the way. He'll have a good time.' But they failed to accomplish what they had in their minds based on the recent Barcelona transfer news.

We will talk about this later in the upcoming parts of Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi, but for now let us take a look at how different legends have praised Messi and his performance.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic considers Messi as one of the greatest in football history and tried to praise him in a very beautiful way: “Messi does not need his right foot. He only uses the left and he’s still the best in the world. Imagine if he also used his right foot, Then we would have serious problems.”

It is a hard task to get a compliment from

, but Messi did it, and did it well.

Jose Mourinho, one of the greatest coaches ever, described Messi’s dribbling skills as follows: “Messi is the god of football. When Messi has the ball, one on one, you’re dead.” According to this man if you don’t want to get humiliated you should avoid one on one situations with Messi at all cost.

Luis Figo, however, described Messi in a rough way but this element of roughness makes this sentence seem so accurate and precise. "For me, to watch Messi play is a pleasure – it’s like having an orgasm – it’s an incredible pleasure." Said Luis Figo in his attempt to fit Messi’s performance into a sentence.

"He is always going forwards. He never passes the ball backward or sideways. He has only one idea, to run towards the goal. So as a football fan, just enjoy the show." This is the sentence that a tactical genius once said to describe Messi and that genius was no other than Zinedine Zidane.

According to

, Lionel Messi is the next Maradona of Argentina: "I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi. Messi is a genius."

Johan Cruyff, maybe the greatest football philosopher talked about Messi in a way that no one has ever did.  "For the world of football, Messi is a treasure because he is a role model for children around the world… Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d’Or in history. He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable.

He’s in a different league." Could he describe Messi any better? If Messi was a word in a dictionary this would have been his definition.

Why did Messi leave Barcelona?

As said at the beginning of the Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi article, Messi was a victim of La Liga rules and Barcelona’s debt.

After a quarrel with then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu in August 2020, it was probable that Messi leave Barcelona but was obliged to stay.

Now, when he was eager to stay longer, it looks like he is being forced to go. Barcelona's salaries presently account for over 110 percent of the club's revenue, and its president, Joan Laporta, has confessed that "we do not comply with financial fair play laws."

Barcelona's salary cap for 2019-20 was €671 million, down from €347 million previous season and even lower this season. Salary caps, which are shorthand for limitations on all pre-tax expenditure on the team in Spain, are not imposed retroactively but are imposed in advance.

That is the main reason which made the sad tragedy of Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi real.

Lionel Messi about Barcelona

Messi had a press conference recently and had talked about his experience in the club and shared his feeling with the crowd. Let us get into the details in this part of Barcelona’s farewell to Lionel Messi.

The star of our story held back tears as he opened the news conference announcing his departure from Barcelona, the club where he has spent his entire career. His figure and face seemed as if it was hard for him to admit that he was leaving Barcelona.

Messi was on a mission and that mission was to make it know that it is very hard or even almost impossible for him to move from Barcelona emotionally. “These recent days, I’ve been giving lots of thought about what I could say, and the truth is that I can’t think of anything,” Messi was speechless, and the sad part is that the fans felt the same when Messi leave Barcelona.

“We’ve always made this our home, we’re at home and we thought we’d be staying here in Barcelona.” This statement broke the hearts of many fans, and Messi started to cry making it even much harder to watch this conference.

This next sentence is what made the fans' hearts warm again: “As long as I go on being competitive and as long as my body responds, as long as I can, I will carry on competing.”

Which means that we will see Messi again in another jersey but the logo on the jersey and the club that he would join are a mystery which we will try to solve in the later section of Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi. But now let’s see what his teammates think of this matter.

Lionel Messi teammates’ opinion on the matter

Messi was not the only one who was sad about 

Barcelona transfer news

, his teammates also paid their tribute to him on this particular matter.

As part of the Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi, Messi’s now former teammates Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Pique, and Jordi Alba paid respect to Messi in posts on their social media accounts.

wrote: “The only thing I can tell you and that every football lover will think the same: THANK YOU! Thank you for everything you have done at Barcelona! For the city, for the club… you have changed everything! I am sure that it is not a goodbye but a see you later and that your path will cross again with FC Barcelona.

I wish you the best, that you and your family are happy wherever you go. Very few know what it is to be Messi and you were an example for me in every way.” Many thought that Griezmann was Messi’s departure reason, but Messi assured them that it was the club’s decision and financial obstacles which made his stay impossible.

Jordi Alba also made sure that he paid his respect towards this amazing athlete: “What a privilege to have been able to share these nine seasons together. What beautiful experiences we have enjoyed and how we have overcome difficult moments.

I was lucky enough to be able to experience your first goal in 2005 against Albacete at the Camp Nou and I never thought that one day we would have that complicity that with just a glance we understood each other.

How we have enjoyed our time on the field together. How I am going to miss it! You are not only the greatest player in the history of football, but you are also an exceptional human being.”

was much more emotional when it came to the farewell to Lionel Messi: “Nothing will ever be the same again. Not the Camp Nou, not the city of Barcelona, not ourselves. After more than 20 years at the club, you will stop wearing the Barca shirt.

Reality, sometimes, is very harsh. In my first season, after returning to FC Barcelona, we won the treble and you became the best player of all time. From Rosario to touching the sky of Rome.

That's where the legend began. What came next is history. And what a time we had! Now you are leaving, but I know that one day you will come back. There are things to do. Have fun, enjoy wherever you go and keep winning as only you know how to do. Here we will miss you. I love you Leo.”

A promised we would now take a look at the possible options for Messi to join in the next section of

Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi

.

Lionel Messi options for transfer

To change the mood of Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi let’s check out the options that Messi has for his transfer.

When it comes to transfer options, some of the world-famous teams are ready to harness this legendary athlete’s power. Mauricio Pochettino himself commented on the situation in a press conference saying: "I have not spoken with Messi. And any move would not mean that Kylian would leave. A player of Messi's caliber, that is what is interesting to me.

The club are working on several options, but we must focus on the game with Troyes.” As noticed PSG is trying to keep Mbappe and sign Messi at the same time. If this happens PSG could become an unstoppable force.

But PSG has another rival, who will not miss their chance of acquiring Messi. Manchester City is already powerful but with Messi, they will become the best team in the premier league. However, they spent too much on Jack Grealish and the chances of getting Messi seem slim.

After breaking the British record-transfer cost with the £100 million acquisition of Jack Grealish, Guardiola rejected rumors of acquiring Messi on a free transfer, telling reporters in a press conference: "We spent £40m on Jack Grealish. We paid £100m and brought in £60m. He will wear the No.10 because we were convinced Leo would continue at Barcelona, so right now he is not in our thoughts."

In conclusion, it doesn’t matter where he goes, the fire within Messi will always burn down whomever he dribbles through, and it will heat up the stadium like a fire camp.

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Barcelona's farewell to Lionel Messi

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