LaLiga's buck to keep Messi in Spanish football

Financial engineering has arrived in the Spanish league when it needed it most. The covid-19 season has left the clubs with hardly any income other than from television. This is coupled with the devaluation of the product following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Premier League continues to lead the transfer market and mid-table clubs are able to fish for big names in Spanish football because they pay a much higher salary.

Javier Tebas was facing a very tough season for Spanish football. The product to which he has given lustre in recent years was beginning to present a very pretty wrapper, but not very interesting content. Last season's audiences were not what they expected. The ridiculous staging of the Superliga left some interesting arguments: young people are not interested in football. LaLiga is working on this issue with the utmost interest. The next sale of rights will bring surprises not only for the arrival of Amazon with exclusive matchdays, but also for the way of broadcasting matches that we will see from the 2022-2023 season.

But the big problem for LaLiga is Messi. The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo was tough, but the competition held up well. Without Messi, LaLiga was set to lose much of its value. The teams do not have the big names to attract the attention of spectators who would rather watch PSG in the devalued French league than watch Mbapeé, Neymar or Sergio Ramos play. Not to mention all the potential of the Premier League with City, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United signing transfers with many zeros.

Laporta's Barça has not been able to solve the economic problem left by Bartomeu. A hole through which million-dollar salaries were leaking out to players who have barely performed. Debts owed to clubs for players who have spent more time on loan than with Barça. The new president has done what he could to free up the famous wage bill, but Griezmann's departure has not worked out and that has blocked a lot of money. Atletico didn't want to pay for the player and Barca needed to bring in some money to make a profit.

Spanish football needed Messi, but the rules of the game they self-imposed years ago to avoid waste and bankruptcies prevented them from closing the deal without exceeding the salary cap. Getafe president Ángel Torres commented in an unfortunate statement that LaLiga had to allow Barça to renew Messi and look the other way. Those words hid what we now know publicly. LaLiga has signed an agreement with the British fund CVC to inject 2.7 billion euros into the competition through LaLiga Impulso. Of that amount 270 million will go directly to Barça, 260 to Real Madrid, almost 200 to Atlético and so on to each Primera División club. 

The economic framework that results from that money leaves Barça with an increased wage bill of 40 million euros. That doesn't solve Messi's problem, but it is an important lifeline to continue negotiating and reach a solution sooner. The rest of that amount is to improve the infrastructure of the clubs, the stadiums, social networks, reduce losses due to the pandemic... it is a full-fledged loan, but to be paid over 40 years so that, for the time being, it does not represent another economic problem.

For smaller clubs, it relieves a lot of the first team's wage bill and gives them an extra amount to make small improvements to expose the club more to their fans and make it easier for them to sign sponsorships.

The fund CVC Capital Partners is of British origin and has a presence in many sports such as Irish rugby league, British rugby league and Calcio. It has been involved in Formula 1 and Moto GP and is looking to enter the Bundesliga. To simplify its objective, one could say that it invests a lot of money to earn a lot more. The fund itself has valued the Spanish league at €24.5 billion so investing money to improve the product seems like a great deal for both parties. 
 

Javier Tebas earns his controversial pay rise from last year and, in the process, makes himself strong ahead of the upcoming sale of LaLiga rights for the 2022-2025 period. Messi will be his main asset in addition to the presence of Real Madrid and Barça in the competition.

But an important question remains: will Real Madrid accept the loan to undertake the signing of Mbapeé? Florentino Pérez does not have a good relationship with Javier Tebas and everything has worsened after the failed Superliga. He now has the choice of accepting that money to sign and either give in or continue his usual line of signing if the revenue allows it.

What is clear is that the financial doping coined by Tebas has arrived in Spanish football dressed up as investment, loans and improvements for the clubs. Messi staying in Spain is well worth that deal.