Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona, which somehow seemed shocking and inevitable at the same time, redrew the world soccer map. The club, at the sport’s pinnacle just six years ago, is in disarray, with serious financial problems and an underwhelming roster. When the greatest soccer player of all time signed with Paris Saint-Germain two days later, he suddenly tipped the scales for all competitions toward the Franch capital.
Messi has towered over soccer ever since he first suited up for Barca as a 17-year-old in 2004. Slashing through defenses with the ball seemingly tethered to his feet, the diminuitive man nicknamed “the Flea” has scored 750 goals, bringing dozens of trophies to Barcelona and renown to the Argentine national team. He was worshipped at Camp Nou, Barca’s stadium.
At 34 now, Messi may have lost a step, but he still scores and creates more for his teammates too. With 30 goals and 24 assists, he propped up a mediocre Barcelona to a third-place finish in Spain’s La Liga and was competitive in the European Champions League. He led Argentina to Copa America glory in July.
The missing piece for PSG
As one of the petrodollar clubs, owned by Qatari billionaires, Paris Saint-Germain has long been a possible destination for Messi if the unthinkable were ever to occur. In addition to having money, PSG was already stacked with stars such as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar before Messi joined. The club came in second in Ligue 1 and made the semifinals of the European Champions League last year.
In Paris, they are ecstatic, and the new Messi PSG jerseys are flying off the shelves. The club will have to find a way to offload expensive players to make room for Messi’s contract, but he is widely seen as the missing piece to bring silverware to an historic underachiever.
While Messi has often been compared to another enduring soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo, his abilities as both a scorer and a playmaker make him the best. Ronaldo’s ballhogging tendencies made his expensive move from Real Madrid to Juventus in the Italian league a couple of years ago a subject of as much debate as fanfare.
From penthouse to outhouse for Barca?
So how could Barcelona let Messi go? Despite a feud in 2019 with bumbling then-president Josep Bartomeu, Messi was loyal. Unlike the typical sports contract saga, Messi was willing to take a 50% pay cut to stay with the claret-and-cobalt. However, after years of mismanagement, during which Barcelona signed big-name players that didn’t perform for huge contracts, the club still couldn’t sign Messi without busting La Liga’s salary cap and risking bankruptcy.
Messi cried openly during a news conference to announce his departure. Many fans of soccer wanted to cry a little bit too. Messi’s promotion from Barcelona’s La Masia academy in 2004 heralded the beginning of a golden age for the Catalonian club and for all of soccer. Under coach Pep Guardiola, with midfield maestros Andrés Iniesta and Xavi, Barcelona won more with more style between 2008 and 2012 than any had before it.
Barca lived up to its motto as “more than a club.” Like Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and fullbacks Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol also came up through La Masia. They brought their distinctive tiki-taka passing to the Spanish national team, which went on to win the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European championships. Rival Real Madrid was seen as a high-priced band of mercenaries.
In 2015, Messi was able to lead Barca to another treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey and European Champions League), but his best clubmates started retiring, replaced by those stars who didn’t gel with the squad. Hardly any graduates of La Masia have taken starting roles with the senior team.
An era begins as another ends
Strapped for cash, with just a couple of world-class players now, Barcelona will probably have to look within to recover a place at the top of the world soccer world. La Masia is still there. Can a new generation of great players come out of it?
In France, the most decorated La Masia graduate will draw the world’s attention. Besides his enduring magnificence, people will be fascinated to see how he conjures magic with a whole new squad. Tom Brady comes to mind. Of course, some of us will wistfully wonder if Barca could have found a way to keep the magic going at Camp Nou.
