At Barcelona, it's the end of an era, a great footballing cycle has come to an end. Leonel Messi, Barcelona and La Liga's poster boy won't be around anymore, and even though he's about to join PSG, he is set to create a £50M hole in Man Utd's account books.
Barcelona and the whole of the spanish la liga never wanted Leo to leave, Leo himself never Wanted to leave, it was never meant to end like this, it was never in the script, but, the after-effect of COVID has meant Barca had to deal with huge problems financially.
Pre-COVID, Barca could sign any player at will, and could also offer eye watering numbers in wages, due in no small part to the huge percentage of la liga TV right they and Real Madrid enjoy. And then due to the enormous match day revenue from the Camp Nou crowd.
But, as soon as COVID struck, barca were clearly fighting a losing battle. They already had loads of players on astronomically high wages, meaning that, at some point something eventually had to give.
They looked to move on expensive flops like Coutinho and Griezmann, but were unsuccessful in their attempts because these players are clear financial burdens to any team willing to take them on.
In the end leo Messi's contract needed to be renewed this summer, and due to the folly of the previous Barca board's unwise spending, and to some extent, ill advised transfers, the Barca purse was too tight to accommodate Messi's wages, and so Leo had to move on.
Before the shocking news of Messi's departure a few days ago, Leo's rumoured destination, PSG were being mentioned to be planning on offering £40M to Manchester United for the services of want-away midfield star Paul Pogba.
United wanted nothing less than £50M, but because the Parisians are confident of eventually signing the French star on a free next summer, they weren't willing to offer more than £40M.
Now, with the availability of Messi as a free agent, and the potential departure of Kylian Mbappe too on a free next summer, PSG have now ended their pursuit of Pogba this summer, and will merely look to have an agreement in place with Mino Raiola against next summer.
Meaning United will only have to enjoy Pogba for one more season. And getting neither of the £50M or £40M from PSG when their prized asset eventually leaves for Parc des Princes next summer.
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