After a disastrous summer transfer window for FC Barcelona that resulted in a gross debt of around €1.4 billion, Lionel Messi was ineligible for a contract renewal and departed from the club on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, confirmed last august that Barca could have kept their Argentine talisman if they agreed to strike a deal with La Liga to sell 10% of the club to CVC Capital Partners for an immediate influx of cash — Laporta refused this offer as it would have mortgaged off the club's future.
La Liga president, Javier Tebas, shared his thoughts on this agreement.
Via Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens of ESPN:
“There was an agreement that if [Barca] signed the CVC deal, they could have put 15% of the money towards signing players. In my opinion, they could have signed Messi.”
Tebas also revealed to Cope another avenue that could have allowed Barcelona to renew Messi's contract which involved the purchase of Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero.
“Laporta signed players like Memphis, Aguero… if he didn't sign those players, Messi could continue.”
This resulted in the club being limited to only spending €97m this 2021-22 season. For reference, Barca's spending limit during the 2020-21 campaign was set at over €300 million, and even higher during 2019-20, at a whopping €600 million. This limit covers summer transfer market spending, first-team wages, and youth-system costs, among other things
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