As United States international Brenden Aaronson struck a surprise winner for FC Salzburg in a friendly against Barcelona in Austria on Aug. 4, 2021, Barca president Joan Laporta's activity on his phone alerted the other members of the club's travelling delegation to an issue. Less than 24 hours later, the nature of Laporta's frenzied calls became clear as the Catalan club made the announcement that rocked football: Lionel Messi was leaving.
Messi, 34 at the time, spent 20 years at Barcelona after arriving from Argentina as a teenager. During that time, he became the club's record appearance holder and top scorer, scoring 672 times in 778 games. He won four Champions League and 11 LaLiga titles, and was named the best player in the world on six occasions (and for a seventh time since leaving.) Barca without Messi was unthinkable; Messi playing in another club's shirt was unimaginable.
Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who was collecting family from the airport, didn't believe the news when he heard it. Striker Sergio Aguero, who had only just signed for Barca, partly on the premise of playing with his long-time friend Messi, was with Spanish Twitch streamer Ibai Llanos when the news broke, and like De Jong, he refused to believe it too. He even thought Barca's website had been hacked. Still in denial, Aguero then believed it must be a tactic to convince LaLiga to let Barca register Messi given his importance to Spanish football.
As it turned out, it was neither of those things. Barca, in €1.35 billion of debt following years of overspending and the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, simply could not afford to give Messi a new contract and had to let him go to French side Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
In the year since, the move has made a big mark on his former club in Spain and his new club in France, while Messi's future after the 2022-23 season looks cloudier than ever, too. His contract with PSG expires on June 30, 2023, though there is an option to extend it for another season. But before we get there, ESPN's Sam Marsden and Julien Laurens explain how we got here.
Reporting and information from Moises Llorens and Eduardo Fernandez-Abascal was used in this story.
How it happened
"The warning signs were there in Salzburg," one club executive told ESPN. "That was when it became clear things were complicated.
"As the hours passed, everything went pear-shaped until the point that the vice-president, Rafa Yuste, and Laporta had a series of calls with Jorge, Messi's dad and agent. Those conversations were intense -- the tone of them didn't go down well with anyone. When the expedition returned to Barcelona from Salzburg, it was all over. At around 6 p.m. through a statement from the club on Aug. 5, the chapter closed on the greatest player in Barca's history."
Messi's sudden departure was all the more remarkable given he'd already agreed to terms on a new contract with a 50% pay cut to help Barca economically, given that his previous deal had actually expired on June 30. On Aug. 5, Jorge was flying into Barcelona from Argentina to finalise the deal.
"Jorge had a meeting early in the afternoon with Laporta and a notary from Barcelona to go over the two-year contract and sign the documents," a source involved in the negotiations explained to ESPN. "Talks had been long, but with the election of Laporta in March, everything seemed fine. But when Jorge landed, he received a call from Laporta: 'Jorge, don't go to the notary, the club's situation is not the best and we're not going to be able to sign the agreement, I am so sorry.' Then Jorge phoned his son to relay the news to him."
Even a year on, there are discrepancies over exactly when Laporta knew Messi could not renew with the club. Everyone consulted by ESPN concurred that Messi and his teammates were stunned by the development, but there are different timelines from different sources relating to Laporta.
The official version is that he did everything he could up until the last minute, but that the only way out would have been to accept LaLiga's CVC deal, which would have handed over 10% of Barca's domestic television rights. Laporta was always unwilling to sign that deal. Other sources, though, suggest Laporta and those closest to him had realised much earlier that it would be difficult from a financial perspective to renew Messi's contract.
The irony of Messi's departure was that he wanted to stay, unlike in the summer of 2020 when, under ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, he had asked to leave via the infamous Burofax. He even held talks with Pep Guardiola about a move to Manchester City.
A year later, on Aug. 8, three days after Barca's statement, Messi cried his eyes out as he said goodbye to the club in a news conference, with De Jong and Aguero alongside other ex-teammates in the audience. On Aug. 10, he signed for PSG.
"Messi was certain he was staying," a dressing room source told ESPN. "He had spoken with people about getting back to work after signing the contract. That never happened. The president didn't live up to his word. He promised Messi would be able to sign, but it fell through. The summer before, with the Burofax [transfer request], Messi was convinced he wanted to leave. His mind was made up. He stayed when he wanted to go and he left when he wanted to stay."
-- Sam Marsden
Why Messi left Barcelona
Messi wanted to leave in 2020 because of what he branded "lies" from Bartomeu and the failure to build a team around him that was capable of winning trophies. Barca had just lost 8-2 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in 2020, but Messi left the following year because of the debts which were run up by the same board that had refused his request to depart.
That was the situation Laporta inherited. Barca had been overspending even prior to Neymar's world-record €222 million exit to PSG in 2017. When the pandemic arrived and revenue dropped, spending -- including Messi's €550m four-year deal -- quickly became untenable. The club's financial plight, plus Messi's push to leave and a trophy-less campaign, led to a fan movement that saw Bartomeu voted out as club president at the end of 2020.
Enter Laporta, whose charisma and showmanship did not extend to a quick fix for the club's cash crisis. Barca needed a hefty loan from Goldman Sachs just to meet payroll requirements last summer, posting losses of €487m in 2020-21. As recently as June, Laporta described the club as "clinically dead," although he predicted they would make it into, and subsequently out of, the intensive care unit soon. He has since signed Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde for over €150m in the current transfer window after selling a 25% stake in the club's domestic television rights and another 25% of the in-house production company, Barca Studios, for around €700m in total.
