Barcelona still owe Lionel Messi small fortune of €63.5m in unpaid wages: Report

Earlier on Sunday, Barcelona and Lionel Messi grabbed headlines after the six-time Ballon d'Or winner's contract was exposed by a Spanish news outlet. The report suggested that Messi's four-year contract with Barcelona, which was signed in 2017, will see the Argentine rake in a whopping £492 million (€555 million) by the end of his current agreement if all add-ons were met. However, amid Barcelona's current financial debt, it is believed that the Catalans are yet to pay Messi a small fortune of €63.5 million in unpaid wages. 

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Lionel Messi contract leak: Do Barcelona still owe Messi his wages?

Spanish publication El Mundo revealed Lionel Messi's mammoth contract on Sunday and if reports are true, highlighted that the 33-year-old is in possession of the world's largest contract. The report revealed that Barcelona offered Messi a signing-on bonus of €115,225,000 when he put pen to paper on his four-year deal on November 25, 2017. The contract also included a staggering €77,929,955 loyalty bonus for Messi along with his wages.  

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A breakdown of the aforementioned figures shows that Messi rakes in a reported €138,000,000 per season. However, due to the impact of the coronavirus, Barcelona have struggled to balance their financial sheets and also owe part of their players' salaries including Lionel Messi. It is believed that Barcelona have paid just €8.5m of Messi's salary this year but he should have been paid €72m by this stage, leaving a significant €63.5m in outstanding payment.

This is despite the players agreeing to a pay-cut due to the COVID-19 situation. The Barcelona first-team agreed to a pay-cut in November which will save the club a reported €122m this financial year. However, the four players that weren't affected by the laceration in the player wages were those that signed new contract extensions - Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Frenkie de Jong.

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Reports from Cadena COPE have revealed that the LaLiga giants are yet to receive their bi-annual payment which was initially due in December. It was delayed over concerns that Messi might leave the Camp Nou. However, the club has now promised that the payments would be processed in February. Only last month, Barcelona's alarming €1 billion debt was revealed with €730 million of that due in the short-term. 

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Image Credits - Leo Messi Instagram