LaLiga boss Javier Tebas: Messi’s departure could have been prevented
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Could Lionel Messi still play for FC Barcelona? At least that is what La Liga boss Javier Tebas claims, who does not believe in financial reasons.
LaLiga boss Javier Tebas has in an interview with the Catalan newspaper Sport stated that Lionel Messi’s departure from FC Barcelona could have been prevented and that the departure was not of a financial nature.
“Yes!” Replied Tebas when asked if Messi could still play at Barca. “I discussed the matter with Laporta and his board of directors. Solutions were sought. If the problem was a financial one.”
“If it was for some other reason, I can’t judge,” Tebas continued. “I think next year – when Barca announce their financial results – we’ll see if Messi could actually have stayed or not.”
In the end, Messi’s end at Blaugrana was, according to Tebas, “not a financially-related decision. I know that for sure.” Without being specific, Tebas indicated a possible reason for his statements: Barca’s rejection of a billion-dollar deal between the Spanish professional clubs and the Luxembourg risk capital company ‘CVC’.
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“Laporta was there for more than a month. That’s why he said at the time that things (the Messi extension) were going well,” said Tebas. “He even called me twice to speed up the deal because Messi was starting to get nervous.”
“The decision not to let the deal come through in the last 72 hours was very much linked to the Super League environment and the strategy that Real Madrid is pursuing,” continued Tebas.
Indirectly, the influence of arch-rivals Real Madrid could have prevented that deal and a possible Messi-related stay. “I feel like there is a psychological kidnapping at Barca by Florentino Perez and madridismo. Something like an inferiority complex,” said Tebas.
The LaLiga boss further justified: “Laporta made the argument that Barca were not in the European Cup once in the 1950s and he doesn’t want this to happen again. That leads to the psychological kidnapping I’m talking about. I have already seen under President Bartomeu and now see it further under Laporta. “
