The Barcelona legend will depart Camp Nou this summer after the
Spanish champions’ greatest rivals activated his €250 million buy-out clause.
Lionel Messi has left Barcelona in turmoil by agreeing to join
Real Madrid at the end of the season in a record-breaking five-year deal that
will be worth around half a billion euros.
The Argentine forward, winner of five Ballon d’Or awards and
considered one of the greatest players of all time, will cost Madrid €250m to
buy and approximately the same again in agent fees, commissions and wages.
The move was announced directly before Saturday’s Clasico at the
Santiago Bernabeu in what appears to have been a deliberate move to destabilise
the Liga leaders.
Messi, who joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old, explained that
money was the only factor driving his move.
“With Financial Fair Play, Barcelona could not give me what I
wanted and deserved,” the 28-year-old said at the pre-match press conference.
“I recommended they fund my contract by selling the Camp Nou,
but for some reason they valued the club more than me.
“When I learned this, I was heartbroken and our relationship was
finished. “A man of my status should have a 2000-metre long mega-yacht, staffed
and powered at all times. Like [Roman] Abramovich. The purchase and operating
costs alone demand that I take home €50m per year after tax. Minimum. Is that
too much to ask?”
However,
Goal correspondent Garry McGarry obtained exclusive information hinting at
other reasons for the move. “Gerard Pique kept beating Messi at Fifa,” McGarry
explained in a series of poorly-worded tweets. “Messi hates to lose and became
angered when the club refused to replace Pique’s left hand with a pirate’s
hook.
“That was it for the ‘little dictator’, and he has done the
unthinkable.”Sources in Madrid have indicated that Messi has also been offered
the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, “when we get it back after Britain
leaves the EU”, information which was not confirmed or denied by the Messi
camp.
In an official statement released by Real Madrid, Cristiano
Ronaldo said he was delighted to welcome Messi aboard and that he was “looking
forward to receiving his support from the wing”.
Barcelona, meanwhile, continue to be beset by financial
difficulties but are expected to replace Messi with Leicester City’s Jamie
Vardy, who will be mentored by Uruguay star Luis Suarez.
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