Lionel Messi‘s departure from Barcelona was arguably one of the biggest talking points from the 2021 summer transfer window.
The Argentine legend spent the majority of his playing career with the Catalan club, reaching unprecedented heights in his career and establishing himself as one of football’s greatest ever stars.
After racking up seven Ballon d’Ors and two trebles with Barcelona, Messi eventually departed the club following their financial struggles post the COVID-19 pandemic.
El Mundo has now revealed Messi‘s demands to renew his contract with Barcelona in 2020.
Among the most prominent of those demands are a private box at the Camp Nou for his family and Luis Suarez‘s family; a private plane flight for his entire family to visit Argentina during Christmas; a signing bonus of 10 million euros; to recover the cuts for the pandemic in the following years with interest of 3 percent; and to be able to leave Barcelona whenever he wanted through a symbolic release clause of 10,000 euros.
Messi’s demands to renew his contract with Barcelona
These are some of the details that emerged from the chain of emails between his father and agent, Jorge Messi, his lawyers and the former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu along with other members of the club’s board.
El Mundo had exclusive access to a number of documents and emails via the judicial investigation. In addition to Messi‘s demands, there is also documentation relating to Gerard Pique and Neymar, which the newspaper will continue to report.
It is also reported that Bartomeu accepted most of the terms, but not the of lowering of the transfer clause from 700 million to 10,000 euros, while making the payment of the 10 million bonus conditional on the club returning to its pre-Barcagate income.
Because of these disagreements, the two sides broke off negotiations and the story ended with Messi handing in his transfer request.
Negotiations began on June 11, 2020, and according to El Mundo, Messi‘s legal representative requested the signing of a new contract with a duration of three seasons with the possibility of a unilateral extension for the player.
He accepted a 20pc reduction of the fixed salary in the 2020/21 season, due to COVID, but demanded that 10pc be recovered in 2021/22 and another 10pc in 22/23, with an interest of 3pc per year.
He also claimed the outstanding loyalty bonus already included in his contract in October 2020 and July 2021, with interest as a higher salary.
These were to be applied to amounts deferred at the time of the completion of the new contract.