Lionel Messi’s situation with Barcelona is increasingly complicated, after the superstar expressed his desire to move from FC Barcelona, his father who is also Messi’s manager also said that Messi was unlikely to stay at Barca. This condition turned out not only to confuse the ranks of FC Barcelona, but also to make La Liga nervous.
This was proven when La Liga issued an official statement that Messi could only leave if his € 700 million release clause was paid in full. If not, La Liga threatens not to process the player’s visa waiver to leave. This attitude is clearly La Liga’s attempt to tackle Messi’s departure from Camp Nou.
La Liga has stated that it wants to develop an image like the Premier League that does not depend on one or two stars. However, it seems that this does not apply to Lionel Messi leaving FC Barcelona. La Liga president, Javier Tebas, said, “Messi is the best player and we are lucky to have him in La Liga. If he wants to move to another league it will make a big change, not to be catastrophic but Messi gives us great value.”
Tebas then continued, “Messi is an icon of Spanish football and I will ask him to finish his career here and continue to provide us with entertainment.”
What Will Happen to La Liga?
La Liga is currently still the league with the highest coefficient in Europe. They are still above the English Premier League, Bundesliga and Italian Serie A. Their three clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid occupy the second, third and fourth positions in the current UEFA club coefficients.
Barcelona is not automatically a weak team if Messi leaves. They still have a number of quality players in the Barca squad such as Frenkie de Jong, Antoine Griezmann, Ansi Fatu and others. The coefficient club Barcelona and La Liga should not have a problem if Barcelona can immediately build their squad after Messi leaves.
However, we cannot deny that the center of their strength in the last 10 years has been centered on Messi. It is not only the center of the game on the field, but also an attraction to bring in quality players from various countries. Not a few players who want to play at FC Barcelona because they want to play one team with Lionel Messi.
Pjanic is the last player to openly say he moved to Barcelona because he wanted to play with Lionel Messi. It’s just that the players brought in from Juventus this summer have to bite their fingers with the developing conditions related to Lionel Messi and Barcelona.
From a financial standpoint and the number of La Liga viewers could also be affected by Messi’s departure. When Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Juventus in 2018, Real Madrid experienced an 8% drop in stadium attendance in the 2018/19 season. Even so, La Liga as a whole has seen an increase in attendance and income. They managed to get a new broadcasting contract with a 15% increase in value domestically and 30% internationally.
“None of our broadcasting partners raised the issue of Cristiano moving to Juventus. We will develop the La Liga brand and the club brand like the English Premier League does, which does not depend on one star player,” said Joris Evers, La Liga Chief Communication Officer during an interview. Bleacher Report in 2019.
The attitude of La Liga towards the CR7 saga is unlike that of Messi at this point in that it is clear they are trying to intervene. They didn’t even react when Real Madrid lowered Cristiano’s release clause from 1 billion euros to 120 million euros.
The president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, has made it clear that Cristiano’s departure had almost no impact on La Liga because it had been prepared for so many years. He also compared with the case of Messi, that La Pulga is the best player in the history of football and will have a big impact if he moves to another league.
The El Classico match, which is the biggest match every season, would be different without Lionel Messi. Not a few people are waiting for El Classico because they want to see Messi’s action in this match. It is not impossible that the number of EL Classico spectators will decrease if Messi really moves from Barcelona.
In the image, Real Madrid’s farewell with Cristiano Ronaldo will certainly feel different from that of Barcelona and Lionel Messi. Cristiano has indeed changed a lot for the history of Los Blancos and certainly holds the title of club legend. But Lionel Messi is Barcelona, like a whole that is almost impossible to separate.
La Liga must do an evaluation immediately so that it can continue to develop. Despite being the league with the highest coefficients, their income was much less than English Premier League’s income. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have indeed become the 2 richest clubs in the 2020 Deloitte Money League version, but then only Atletico Madrid, ranked 13th, another La Liga club that entered the top 20 clubs with the highest income.
If Messi does move, La Liga will probably take a big hit. However, Messi’s departure could also be the start for La Liga to work out their brand strategy. Start over again building a brand without depending on one star player.
ASL
