Lionel "The Greatest of All Time" Messi

[Messigician]

Jose Enrique (former Liverpool player): ?Bar?a did so many strange things. They give away Su?rez and sign Griezmann on a massive contract, who?s not even half as good as Luis. All of these things, they add up.?

 

[malvolio]

OF course not. Who would want to work for free? He is giving his labor and his body for your entertainment, compensate him on his worth.

I got the impression many in here haven't got a real job yet or haven't worked a day in their lives on a salary.

Might as well ditch capitalism and meritocracy if people are willing to work pro-bono.

I would have called my cable provider instantly when Messi would have agreed to work for free. Tell them that I want free football as players aren't getting paid anyway.

Sure, something like deferred payments or Laporta paying him in crypto maybe could have been agreed. But Laporta didn't offer shit and suddenly he's crying like an idiot in the media, thinking that Messi could have offered to play for free.

 

[delancey]

I got the impression many in here haven't got a real job yet or haven't worked a day in their lives on a salary.

Might as well ditch capitalism and meritocracy if people are willing to work pro-bono.

I would have called my cable provider instantly when Messi would have agreed to work for free. Tell them that I want free football as players aren't getting paid anyway.

Sure, something like deferred payments or Laporta paying him in crypto maybe could have been agreed. But Laporta didn't offer shit and suddenly he's crying like an idiot in the media, thinking that Messi could have offered to play for free.

You?re acting as if Messi earned minimum wage during his time at Barcelona. If I recall correctly, he made 550m + from Barcelona over the last 5 years. In addition, he earns countless millions from sponsorship deals annually. Having hopes that Messi would take a significant pay cut in order to stay at the club who gave him everything seems reasonable to me. Again, let that 550m figure sink in! 550,000,000! Surely, Barcelona has paid him over 1,000,000,000 over his career. Fact is, He chose money over loyalty when he left for PSG! I don?t think we should sugarcoat this fact. With that said, he is free to make his own decisions.

 

[Messi983]

This "debates" about Messi playing for free are pointless. Even if both sides would agree to that, La Liga would never allow it.

 

[malvolio]

You?re acting as if Messi earned minimum wage during his time at Barcelona. If I recall correctly, he made 550m + from Barcelona over the last 5 years. In addition, he earns countless millions from sponsorship deals annually. Having hopes that Messi would take a significant pay cut in order to stay at the club who gave him everything seems reasonable to me. Again, let that 550m figure sink in! 550,000,000! Surely, Barcelona has paid him over 1,000,000,000 over his career. Fact is, He chose money over loyalty when he left for PSG! I don?t think we should sugarcoat this fact. With that said, he is free to make his own decisions.

Stop with the lies and exaggeration, he didn't get paid 1BN.

So let me understand this. The fact that we paid him as the best player in football while he generated big income for the club anyway, should make him ask Laporta to play for free?

As stated by both sides - 50% cut was agreed, then Laporta came and said he got nothing to offer, not a cent. Messi should of been like "but but but could we work something out? I could do it for free ya know?!".

The way Laporta went into that meeting with empty hands and didn't try to work something out is on him. The idiot even told us that he couldn't offer less as it would have been disrespectful, but then concluded that he expected Messi to play for free.

 

[mc_lovin]

Stop with the lies and exaggeration, he didn't get paid 1BN.

So let me understand this. The fact that we paid him as the best player in football while he generated big income for the club anyway, should make him ask Laporta to play for free?

As stated by both sides - 50% cut was agreed, then Laporta came and said he got nothing to offer, not a cent. Messi should of been like "but but but could we work something out? I could do it for free ya know?!".

The way Laporta went into that meeting with empty hands and didn't try to work something out is on him. The idiot even told us that he couldn't offer less as it would have been disrespectful, but then concluded that he expected Messi to play for free.

You are twisting his words.

 

[Andresito]

This "debates" about Messi playing for free are pointless. Even if both sides would agree to that, La Liga would never allow it.

Tru.
Have people already forgotten that you can't downsize a salary more than 50% due to Liga rules, even if there is no cashflow between club and player. Messi couldn't have been registered either way.

 

[malvolio]

You are twisting his words.

Laporta continued: "I hoped Messi would do a u-turn and he would say he would play for free.

"I would have liked that and I would have been all for it. It is my understanding La Liga would have accepted it. But we cannot ask a player of Messi's stature to do this."

Where?

 

[delancey]

Stop with the lies and exaggeration, he didn't get paid 1BN.

So let me understand this. The fact that we paid him as the best player in football while he generated big income for the club anyway, should make him ask Laporta to play for free?

As stated by both sides - 50% cut was agreed, then Laporta came and said he got nothing to offer, not a cent. Messi should of been like "but but but could we work something out? I could do it for free ya know?!".

The way Laporta went into that meeting with empty hands and didn't try to work something out is on him. The idiot even told us that he couldn't offer less as it would have been disrespectful, but then concluded that he expected Messi to play for free.

He earned 550m+ over the last five years alone. If we were to sum up his career earnings at FC Barcelona, I feel confident in stating that the figure is close to 1 billion euros before tax. Add sponsorship and ad deals into the equation, and the sum total surely reaches north of a billion euros. I don?t find it unreasonable to ask an employee who has earned around 1 billion euros in career earnings at the club to take a significant albeit temporary pay cut during hard economic times in order to find a mutual solution for club and player.

I agree with you that Messi?s market value is what clubs are willing to pay, which is why I said that he is free to make his own decision. In this case, he clearly chose oil money over loyalty to the one club that has given him everything (and vice versa, of course). If 1,000,000,000 doesn?t generate loyalty, what will? 😅

 

[malvolio]

He earned 550m+ over the last five years alone. If we were to sum up his career earnings at FC Barcelona, I feel confident in stating that the figure is close to 1 billion euros before tax. Add sponsorship and ad deals into the equation, and the sum total surely reaches north of a billion euros. I don?t find it unreasonable to ask an employee who has earned around 1 billion euros in career earnings at the club to take a significant albeit temporary pay cut during hard economic times in order to find a mutual solution for club and player.

I agree with you that Messi?s market value is what clubs are willing to pay, which is why I said that he is free to make his own decision. In this case, he clearly chose oil money over loyalty to the one club that has given him everything (and vice versa, of course). If 1,000,000,000 doesn?t generate loyalty, what will? ��

Surely, Barcelona has paid him over 1,000,000,000 over his career. Fact is, He chose money over loyalty when he left for PSG! I don?t think we should sugarcoat this fact. With that said, he is free to make his own decisions.

You said Barcelona paid him that amount. What he makes from Adidas, Lays etc are not paid by Barcelona. So you lied.

He wanted to stay but Barcelona didn't offer shit in the end. Would you have liked that he went to Atletico as they don't pay him with oil money? Or you would have preferred he retired because the man he supported to win the presidency wasn't able to give him a contract?

 

[soul24rage]

He earned 550m+ over the last five years alone. If we were to sum up his career earnings at FC Barcelona, I feel confident in stating that the figure is close to 1 billion euros before tax. Add sponsorship and ad deals into the equation, and the sum total surely reaches north of a billion euros. I don?t find it unreasonable to ask an employee who has earned around 1 billion euros in career earnings at the club to take a significant albeit temporary pay cut during hard economic times in order to find a mutual solution for club and player.

I agree with you that Messi?s market value is what clubs are willing to pay, which is why I said that he is free to make his own decision. In this case, he clearly chose oil money over loyalty to the one club that has given him everything (and vice versa, of course). If 1,000,000,000 doesn?t generate loyalty, what will? ��

1. He and the other Barca players did take a temporary pay cut of 70% when Covid happened
2. From what I heard, he was legally only able to drop to 50% when signing the new deal.

Not sure what else he could have done.

 

[CatalinR10]

If I was Messi I would have spit in the face of anyone the club asking me to play for free.

 

[delancey]

You said Barcelona paid him that amount. What he makes from Adidas, Lays etc are not paid by Barcelona. So you lied.

He wanted to stay but Barcelona didn't offer shit in the end. Would you have liked that he went to Atletico as they don't pay him with oil money? Or you would have preferred he retired because the man he supported to win the presidency wasn't able to give him a contract?

Liar, liar, pants on fire! What we do know, according to a recent contract leak, is that his last contract was worth a sum total of 555,000,000 euros, which also included a signing on fee of 115m euros, and a loyalty bonus of 78m euros. If we were to sum up his total career earnings at FC Barcelona, it isn?t unreasonable to assume that he has earned ?around? 1 billion euros from the club pre-tax. Whether this figure is 880,000,000 euros or 1.3B is irrelevant to the discussion. He chose oil money over staying loyal to the club that has rewarded him with a figure north or slightly south of 1,000,000,000 euros throughout his career. I find it silly to even insinuate that he would be playing for free had he chosen to stay at Barcelona on significantly reduced wages.

To answer your last paragraph, I would have preferred Messi to have stayed loyal to FC Barcelona after everything the club has done for him throughout his career, and vice versa (including, but not limited to, paying out astronomical wages).

 

[malvolio]

Liar, liar, pants on fire! What we do know, according to a recent contract leak, is that his last contract was worth a sum total of 555,000,000 euros, which also included a signing on fee of 115m euros, and a loyalty bonus of 78m euros. If we were to sum up his total career earnings at FC Barcelona, it isn?t unreasonable to assume that he has earned ?around? 1 billion euros from the club pre-tax. Whether this figure is 880,000,000 euros or 1.3B is irrelevant to the discussion. He chose oil money over staying loyal to the club that has rewarded him with a figure north or slightly south of 1,000,000,000 euros throughout his career. I find it silly to even insinuate that he would be playing for free had he chosen to stay at Barcelona on significantly reduced wages.

To answer your last paragraph, I would have preferred Messi to have stayed loyal to FC Barcelona after everything the club has done for him throughout his career, and vice versa (including, but not limited to, paying out astronomical wages).

so you just throw some numbers out there. good that we got that out of the way.

he was out of contract, barcelona didn't offer a new one. so yeah, he's the one that hasn't shown loyalty. but maybe you know better.

mate, you're just talking shit without any logic and regard to the course of events.

 

[delancey]

1. He and the other Barca players did take a temporary pay cut of 70% when Covid happened
2. From what I heard, he was legally only able to drop to 50% when signing the new deal.

Not sure what else he could have done.

I have read about the 50% wage reduction rule on multiple occasions, but have yet to see a reliable source confirming its existence. Maybe someone on here could share? Complicating matters, Messi was a free agent.