DBasia.news – Barcelona’s efforts to offer Lionel Messi a new contract are currently delayed by Spain’s La Liga financial control measures, club president Joan Laporta said after the Argentine player became a free transfer.
Messi is currently not tied to any club after his contract with Barcelona expires on June 30 and Laporta says the 34 year old player wants to stay in Catalonia.
Laporta explained that their attempt to extend Messi’s contract had to comply with the league’s requirements.
“This is going well, he wants to stay and we are doing everything we can to make sure he does. However, we have to balance it with financial fair play,” said Laporta.
“There are many options and we are considering which is best for both sides. However, we want him to stay and so does he, we want to give him the most competitive team.”
La Liga introduced financial control measures in 2013 setting a maximum amount of funds each club can spend on its squad and coaching staff each season, conditioned by their income.
Barca has the highest revenue in world football according to the Deloitte Money League this year, although revenue fell by 125 million euros last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the start of the 2019-20 season, Barca’s maximum budget allocation reached 1.47 billion euros by La Liga which shrank to 733 million for last season.
It is very likely that Barca’s budget will fall again for the 2021-22 season after a whole season without ticket sales and the situation in the transfer market.