Winners and losers as Lionel Messi leaves Barcelona

Winner: Antoine Griezmann could benefit from Lionel Messi's exit

France v Switzerland - UEFA Euro 2020: Round of 16

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.

❝𝗟𝗲𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆.❞ — @JoanLaportaFCB pic.twitter.com/g7eVNJLin1
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 6, 2021

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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.

Guardiola on Messi: "It was a surprise for me like everyone. Laporta was clear today about the reasons. As a supporter [of the club] I'd love him to have finished at the club. I've just incredible gratitude for the most extraordinary player I've seen in my life."
— James Ducker (@TelegraphDucker) August 6, 2021

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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.

About the author

Sripad is a veteran Sportskeeda football journalist, who has been with the company for around 9.5 years. His tryst with writing happened in class XI when he started penning blogs, and his foray into football was during the early 2000s, watching matches with his cousins.

Sripad has been a Chelsea fan through and through since the age of 9 and can watch their 2012 Champions League triumph on repeat. The undisputed ‘GOAT’ according to him is Lionel Messi and his favorite managers are Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. Apart from popular European leagues, he also likes to follow other leagues like the MLS, Saudi Pro League, Eredivisie, and Liga MX.

Sripad believes in only using the right sources for his articles, and is an expert in understanding how to get the right quotes for each news to provide proper background information. His exploits have led him to become a popular figure in European Football and interviewing Premier League legends such as Alan Shearer, Shay Given, Paul Dickov, and John Barnes. His articles have been much revered amongst the football fraternity and have been shared by the likes of John Terry, Gary Lineker, and Declan Rice.

If given a chance to change a football rule, Sripad wants VAR to be fully automated and offside rules to be less stringent. When not working, he likes to watch past Formula 1 races and play FIFA.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram