Toni Freixa Warns That Lionel Messi Will Have To Take A Pay Cut To Extend Contract 

Barcelona presidential candidate Toni Freixa has warned that Lionel Messi will have to take a pay cut to extend his current contract.

Speculation over Messi’s future has been raging since his decision to hand in a transfer request following Barca’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in last season’s Champions League quarter-finals.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner was subsequently linked with the likes of Inter, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain as he sought to trigger the unique release clause in his contract which allows him to leave  Camp Nou for nothing at the end of each season.

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However, Barca and La Liga made it clear that a legal battle would ensue if Messi continued to push for an exit, leading to him performing a U-turn and pledging to remain in Catalonia for the duration of the 2020-21 campaign.

The continued presence of a talismanic figure has done little to quell a growing sense of unease at Camp Nou though, with mounting financial problems and a tussle for leadership at boardroom level overshadowing the team’s exploits on the pitch.

Barca are reportedly over £700 million ($921m) in debt at the moment, and are planning to take steps to reduce their £1 billion ($1.3bn) wage bill in order to balance the books amid the coronavirus crisis.

Josep Maria Bartomeu and the rest of the club’s directors resigned last month ahead of an impending vote of no confidence, with elections set to take place at the start of 2021 to decide his replacement.

Freixa is one of the men in the running for the presidency, and although he is eager to see Messi commit to fresh terms, he has insisted that Barca cannot afford to continue paying his current wages beyond the end of the season – when his existing contract is set to expire.

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