Cash-strapped Barcelona will still have to fork out a massive £170,000 per week to Lionel Messi until 2025 even if he does eventually leave in the summer, according to reports from the Spanish media.
Messi was desperate to leave the Spanish giants for free in the summer after becoming disillusioned with proceedings on and off the pitch, but Barcelona blocked any move by insisting suitors – particularly Manchester City – would have to pay his £629million release clause.
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Messi’s future is now up in the air – with it still being expected that he will leave in the summer – and if that is the case, he would still earn an eye-watering £170,000 per week for the next four years from Barcelona due to a contractual agreement, according to Spanish newspaper Marca.
The report claims that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner will bank £34.7million at the end of the 2020-21 campaign, which is half of his £69.4m bonus that was agreed when he put pen to paper on his last contract renewal in 2017.
The other half of the £69.4m bonus is reportedly being paid in installments, which will see the Argentine icon receive the money in eight separate payments over four years – which would go on until 2025.
That would equate to roughly £170,000 per week for Messi, who has attracted plenty of interest from both City and Paris Saint-Germain.
