Before the Champions League group stages start, I wanted to write a little bit about Barcelona and its current situation. Those who think that Barcelona's current situation is only due to the absence of Messi will be very surprised after reading this article.
Imagine that you are one of the most powerful clubs in the world, but you cannot issue licenses to your players. And I'm not just talking about on-field power. I'm talking about both market power and economic power. Here's a short quote from a media report. "Barcelona are unable to license their new signings. The Catalan club, which has exceeded the salary and spending limit set by La Liga's governing rules, is seeking an urgent solution for its transfers."
It all started around 2010. Some power and throne battles on the management side brought the club to where it is today. Who would have guessed.. What's going on? Johan Cruyff, one of the symbols and most important names of the club, was sent away from the club due to the honorary presidency post that was abolished. Barcelona, which did not have a sponsor on its jersey for the club debt, which was +500 million € at that time, for the first time in its history, got a sponsor for its jersey. Of course, all clubs do this, there is nothing wrong with it, but this is just one of the first indicators that something is wrong. Remember the UNICEF logo that is synonymous with the Barcelona jersey? Since 2012, Barcelona has carried the logos of Qatar Airways, Rakuten and Spotify respectively.
Despite the increase in revenues, expenses continued to burden the club. The most striking data in the expense item was, of course, player salaries. The huge contracts signed with the players in the team were sinking the ship. Especially when you have a player like Messi, and naturally when Messi asks for a salary increase because he is a special player, will your other star players sit and wait? Of course not. This would mean that with Messi's salary increase, the salaries of other players are also on the rise. Of course, while all this was going on, the sporting achievements of Guardiola, Iniesta and Xavi were not going unnoticed.
It is not over yet. The irregularities in the transfer of Neymar and the high amounts paid to intermediaries would be paid from the club's coffers and the Barcagate scandal would erupt in 2020. What is this Barcagate scandal? Imagine you are Bartomeu, the club president at the time. How do you solve the problem of Messi and the group of players around him burdening the salary budget? The correct answer is by creating black propaganda on social media for players like Messi and Pique. Yes, it's not a joke, it's real. Bartomeu implemented this action with bot accounts on Twitter by paying as much as 1 million dollars.
Then, as everyone knows, Messi announced his departure from the team in tears. Of course, the reactions of some football fans, who were unaware of all these events, "what do you mean, how could it happen, how could Messi leave" are quite understandable. The heavy defeats in the Champions League after Messi's departure and Pique's words "we are now a team of youngsters" are proof of Barcelona's fall from grace.
This is who we are now, 4-5 players played at the age of 18. This is our reality.
Without Messi, Barcelona is tasteless, but it is reason enough to follow Barcelona to witness the story of their redemption.
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