Javier Tebas has made some firm statements about Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona. In the view of the president of LaLiga, the departure of the Argentine attacker has nothing to do with financial reasons. Messi could have stayed with Barcelona had chairman Joan Laporta agreed to the deal with investment company CVC Capital Partners, Tebas said.
According to Barcelona and Real Madrid, the capital injection of 2.7 billion euros was not discussed sufficiently with the clubs, which hold the television rights. In addition, there was dissatisfaction with the contract duration of no less than fifty years. “The departure of Messi is painful because I consider him the best player ever,” Tebas said in an extensive interview with Sport. “He didn’t deserve to leave like this. And that’s a shame not only for Barcelona, but for the whole competition.”
Only Javier Tebas will stop Lionel Messi’s new contract
The attacker was initially close to a longer stay in Barcelona.
According to Tebas, Messi’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain could have been prevented. “Yes. I personally discussed this with Laporta in a telephone conversation. And also with his board. They were looking for solutions. Whether the finances had something to do with it or whether there was another reason, I cannot estimate. “Next year’s numbers will show whether Barcelona could have kept Messi or not. I respect the club’s decisions, but it is important to always tell the truth. It was not a financial decision, I’m sure.”
“If Laporta shook hands with Messi and came to an agreement, it’s because he was behind the deal with CVC for a month. It was even longer than a month. That’s why he was optimistic about Messi staying on. He Even called me twice to expedite the deal with CVC because Messi was getting nervous,” said Tebas, who was blamed by Barcelona fans for the star player’s departure. “I could live with that, although I let it be known via Twitter that the truth was different. For weeks Barcelona was happy with the deal, but in the last 72 hours everything changed. I think Ferran Reverter (CEO of Barcelona, ed. ) has had an influence on this and I think it also had to do with the Super League.”
Laporta is not happy with Tebas’ interview in Sport and even calls the statements inappropriate. “Certainly also because this is the president of LaLiga,” said the indignant president of the Catalan superpower. “Instead of creating harmony and understanding, Tebas is out for confrontation and conflict. He has a sick obsession with Barcelona in the sense that he wants to damage the club and its values. But we Barcelona supporters have known that for a long time. That Messi did not stay with Barcelona is mainly his fault. This man’s pride and his rules on fair play have to do with it. Tebas always wants to be the protagonist. In other competitions, Financial Fair Play was much more flexible and there are the best players did not leave,” concludes the disappointed Laporta.
It seems that things are not going well between Laporta and Tebas for the time being. “We simply do not allow Tebas to hurt Barcelona any more. We do not cooperate with the personal projects of Mr. Tebas, who only wants to use Barcelona’s interests to earn more money for himself and who wants to use our television rights for the wants to decrease in the next fifty years,” concludes Laporta.