Lionel Messi could still be playing for Barcelona had the club only accepted the CVC agreement that La Liga proposed. Javier Tebas, the La Liga president, insists Barcelona could’ve retained Messi, who made a summer football transfer to PSG instead.
Javier Tebas says losing Lionel Messi has “hurt” La Liga.
However, ultimately, he blames Barcelona for refusing to accept a contentious financial arrangement that his La Liga presented to them.
La Liga has agreed to a €2.7 billion (£2.3 billion) deal with CVC Capital Partners.
This deal ensures that the private equity firm will acquire 10% of the commercial business that the Spanish league make.
Both Real Madrid and Barcelona, however, have spoken out against the proposal.
Madrid and Barcelona claim the agreement takes over all clubs’ audiovisual rights for the next 50 years.
As a result, Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the four clubs that have opted out of the agreement.
Further, Los Blancos are suing La Liga because the latter did not even properly consult them or other Spanish clubs.
Indeed, even the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) stated on Wednesday that such a deal is “completely illegal” (the football news).
However, the agreement will go ahead as La Liga have planned after a general assembly overwhelmingly approved it on Thursday.
La Liga President Insists Barcelona Could’ve Retained Messi
After the proposal met approval, La Liga president Javier Tebas stated categorically that Barcelona could’ve gotten to keep Lionel Messi.
Instead, because Barca did not sign up, their former Catalan captain has now joined Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent.
“I don’t know exactly what Barca are doing to lower their wage-bill — with the CVC money they would have had around €40m more,” Tebas said according to AS.
“It could have been for Messi, or others, to make a more competitive squad. We are hurt by Messi leaving, for sure, but there is no clause in any TV deal which sees us get less money without Messi, although it could hurt companies who are looking to add subscribers and fans of the biggest clubs.
“In La Liga we’ve always wanted to have the best players but then Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar left and Messi has now left.
“I’d say it’s probably been quite traumatic because for a whole month the president of Barcelona kept saying everything was going well and all of a sudden, one afternoon, the whole transaction went down.
“So it’s a real shame that Messi has left but we’ve worked a lot to ensure our value in broadcasting rights doesn’t go down.
“I’m convinced that the fans of Barcelona in Spain will still watch Barcelona as well whether or not Messi is playing for them.
“We signed recently an eight-year contract with ESPN and there was no clause that obliged us to have Messi playing for our league. Who knows in eight years’ time who is playing in the Spanish league. They’re important, the players, and they help, but they’re not essential.”
