Barcelona are trying to stop Messi’s move to PSG. How could the Parisians sign the Argentine?

Lionel Messi, the most speculated name of recent days. Not to be, one of the best footballers in history is not on the market for free agents every day. But the Argentine’s move to PSG is being blocked by Barcelona.

In his entire professional career, Lionel Messi has never played in a club jersey other than the blue and red one. But that is about to change now at the age of 34. The Catalans have run into huge debts due to absolutely insane finances and cannot afford to sign their captain even if he plays for free.

The tiny Argentine’s footsteps seemed to be clearly heading to PSG. But if we can’t have Messi, neither can you, as the Barcelona management seemed to say. Indeed, its lawyers have begun working to block Messi’s move to Paris.

“On behalf of the owners of Barcelona, we have prepared a complaint to the European Commission about the Lionel Messi case. In terms of financial fair play, PSG is doing even worse than Barcelona. In the 2019/20 season, PSG’s wage-to-income ratio was 99%, while Barcelona’s was 54%,” reads, among other things, an official statement shared by lawyer Juan Branco on his Twitter account.

Financial Fair Play (FFP) is a FIFA regulation that seeks to prevent teams from spending more than they earn. It not only tries to prevent clubs from going into large debts, but also the fact that a rich owner will not overpay other teams and thus ruin European football. Among other things, this regulation is very much aimed at Manchester City and PSG, whose owners have almost unlimited budgets thanks to oil production.

If PSG want to sign Messi, they will have to cut back somewhere. After all, there is no way FFP can pass on the salaries of Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, Ramos, Donnarumma, Di Maria and Wijnaldum. Although the owners of the Parisian club do not want to admit it, they have one solution in sight.

Young starlet Kylian Mbappé has made it clear that he does not want to extend his contract, but it expires next summer. Real Madrid are hugely interested in the 22-year-old Frenchman and are just waiting for the instruction to start negotiations. Should Mbappé not leave this year, he could move to Madrid for free next year.

So if PSG management wants to bring Messi at any cost, they will probably have to let Kylian Mbappé go. It is simply not financially possible to keep all three stars together.

Source: Julian Branco, FC Barcelona