Football Leaks strikes again.
The famous whistleblower website that exposed Gareth Bale‘s contract and other high-profile transactions teamed up with German newspaper Der Spiegel and other outlets across the globe to lay bare details of Lionel Messi‘s new contract.
Calling the deal “unprecedented” in scale, Der Spiegel said Messi is guaranteed to earn more than €100 million per season at Barcelona.
The report also revealed the controversial settlement he reached with Spanish tax authorities, as well as Real Madrid‘s ambitious attempt to sign Messi in 2013.
Der Spiegel learned the following details from a treasure trove of emails, legal documents, contracts, and bank statements:
- Messi’s father Jorge, on behalf of his son, signed the new contract on June 30, the same day as Lionel’s wedding. However, his father renegotiated aspects of the contract over the next few months as the transfer market changed.
- Barcelona originally intended to insert a €300-million release clause into Messi’s new contract, but Neymar‘s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain forced the Catalan side to raise that figure to a more unreachable €700 million.
- Messi will collect €106,347,115 per year, including money earned from bonuses. That accounts for 40 percent …read more