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Lionel Messi's career at Barcelona has finally come to an end, and he is set to depart before the start of the new season. The Catalan club have confirmed they will be unable to renew the contract of their star player, and that he is free to take on a new challenge.
Barcelona agreed a new deal with Messi, which would have seen him stay at the club for another five years on significantly reduced wages. However, the club could not comply with La Liga's wage limits and had to withdraw their offer.
During a press conference, Barcelona president Joan Laporta revealed the circumstances that led to Messi's exit.
"Leo Messi wanted to stay at Barcelona, he had an agreement to stay at Barça and we wanted Leo to stay. I want to thank Leo's camp and all people involved in the negotiations. Unfortunately, because of LaLiga rules we can't proceed."
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"Negotiations with Leo Messi have ended. We can't register Messi because of LaLiga rules, they're not flexible with us on salary limit. We had an agreement with Leo but we can't register him. Leo will now look at other options, we had a deadline."
"We can't register a contract with Leo Messi that was agreed because of Financial Fair Play rules. Chances to change the situation and re-sign Messi? I don't want to give fake hopes. We had a deadline because LaLiga is starting soon... now Messi can look at other options."
Now with Messi set to leave, we take a look at the winners and losers from the stunning development.
Winner: Whichever club lands Lionel Messi
Imagine signing one of the greatest players of all time for free. Any club would jump at the chance of doing so, as long as they have the means to match Lionel Messi's demands.
Right now, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Chelsea have the financial power to sign the Argentine. All three clubs would offer Messi an opportunity to compete at the highest level for a few more years and win the elusive Champions League trophy.
Will Messi pick one of them?
Losers: La Liga for letting Lionel Messi leave Barcelona
La Liga technically did nothing wrong by standing their ground and making sure they did not bend the rules for Barcelona. However, with Lionel Messi leaving, La Liga will also suffer as the number of viewers will reduce drastically.
The biggest problem for La Liga at the moment is that a large section of the younger supporters are fans of a particular player rather than the club itself. Lionel Messi is a tremendous draw and with him leaving Spain, there is a very good chance of viewership from outside the country drastically reducing.
Winner: Antoine Griezmann could benefit from Lionel Messi's exit
With Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, Antoine Griezmann could benefit significantly. The Frenchman will be at the heart of the rebuild at Camp Nou.
Griezmann has failed to live up to expectations following his arrival from Atletico Madrid. He's always been in Messi's shadow but with the Argentine no longer at the club, it would not be a surprise to see the Frenchman play with more freedom and guide the club to success.
Losers: Barcelona
Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona will help them start their rebuild, but they will take a while to fill the void left by the Argentinian forward's departure. Ronald Koeman and co. will have a tough time building a squad capable of competing with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid immediately.
With Messi's exit, Barcelona could also struggle to get new fans. But more significantly, they will lose a huge source of their revenue via the sale of merchandise.
Winners: The league that manages to land Lionel Messi
Right now, there are two possible destinations for Lionel Messi: Ligue 1 and the Premier League. The Argentine is one of the most popular players in the world and will bring millions of viewers to whichever league he moves to this summer.
Ligue 1 will be hoping to land the Argentine this season as they have been struggling to get good TV deals outside of France. Amazon and Canal+ reportedly have the broadcast rights to Ligue 1 matches, but the deals pale in comparison to what La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A have at the moment.
On the other hand, if Messi moves to Chelsea or Manchester City, the Premier League's already high viewership will skyrocket. England's top flight has the highest viewership numbers in club football, and the arrival of Lionel Messi would take those to a whole new level.
Where do you think Lionel Messi will end up this summer? Let us know in the comments section below.
