Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will take legal action against Spanish newspaper El Mundo after financial details of his lucrative contract were leaked in Sunday’s edition.
El Mundo published the information under a headline which said Messi’s contract will ‘ruin Barcelona’, with the Argentine understood to be the highest paid athlete ever.
It was El Mundo who claimed the club are ‘on the verge of bankruptcy’, with much of the blame being laid at the door of the former board led by Josep Maria Bartomeu.
And Barca on Sunday denied leaking details of Mess’s contract to the newspaper, with a statement confirming the club will also take legal action against the publication.
The statement read: “FC Barcelona categorically denies any responsibility for the publication of this document, and will take appropriate legal action against the newspaper El Mundo, for any damage that may be caused as a result of this publication.”
According to the report by the newspaper, Messi will receive €555,237,619 (INR 4920 crores, approx.) over the four seasons for Barcelona, if all the conditions in the contract are met by the player. The newspaper claimed that Messi has already earned €511,540,545 even though the contract still has five months in its expiry in the month of June.
The El Mundo report that released on Saturday night suggested that Barcelona agreed to pay Messi €138,000,000 per season, including variables.
Messi’s entire contract, including variables,
As per the leak to El Mundo, Messi’s entire contract, including variables, amounts to a grand total of €555,237,619 (£491,732,285.73) over four years. According to the report, 92% of the variables stipulated in the contract – which was signed in 2017 -have already been fulfilled, meaning that the total salary Messi has earned is €511,540,545 (£453,033,066.98).
The fixed salary, or the minimum amount of money the Argentine was scheduled to earn, was €245,314,080 (£2172,56,268.58).
Some of the most eye-catching variables include a €14,194,576 (£12,571,070.59) bonus for winning the Champions League, a bonus of between €9,463,064 (£8,380,725.53) and €4,731,532 (£4,190,362.77) for winning the league.
