Exploring the pockets of Barcelona and PSG

PSG has been eying for its first-ever Champions League trophy and hiring expensive football stars to make their dream come true. In 2017, PSG hired Neymar for $222 million. On Tuesday, PSG signed a two-year deal with 'the GOAT' of football Lionel Messi, with the possibility of extending it for another year. Since then, PSG has become the talk of the town for football enthusiasts.  

We will dive into the pockets of Barcelona and PSG financial condition and know if Messi and PSG will bring perfect harmony for each other. 

Due to an attachment of 21 years with Barcelona, the all-time top goal scorer for the club, Messi was considering a five year deal with Barcelona with a 50% pay cut, which would have left the player 39 years after the end of the deal.

As Barcelona could not afford Messi, and the news of his departure circulated last Thursday; PSG becomes vigilant to convince Messi to join their club and offered him a two year deal with $40m for each season with the possibility of a year extension. With Messi signing the deal and joining Neymar and Mbappe, the missing piece for the PSG puzzle has been complete. 

For Around 16 years, Real Madrid and Manchester United hold the wealthiest football club position. 

According to Forbes world's most valuable football team published in April 2021, Barcelona scored the top position having $4.76 billion, while PSG valued 2.5 billion, securing 9th position.

However, due to the pandemic, all the listed valuable clubs' average revenue was 9.6% down in the 2019-2020 season, compared to 2017-2018 one.

Photo: Twitter

Despite being on the top of the list of the most 20 valuable clubs, Barcelona is in debt of $1.4 billion, putting it in a position to cut its financial expenditure. Earlier, the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, said Messi's departure would cut 95% of the expenditure made on players' salaries.

However, Laporta addressed that Messi's exit cannot save the club from its financial crisis as he revealed the club has made a $569.79 million loss during the last season, reports the Guardian.  

Even though PSG has witnessed a dent of $146.25 million due to the pandemic in 2019-2020 alone, the club's pocket has a hefty amount to hold the megastars as it is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). 

Hiring Messi means PSG is adopting a new marketing approach. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the CEO of Paris Saint Germain is the 8th richest football club owner, reports Goal.com

"Messi is a cast-iron guarantee. From the moment you recruit him, you have a number of additional revenue streams which flow almost automatically: derivative merchandise, ticketing, partnerships. It's an unmissable opportunity." reports Frechnews24.