Barcelona's Complaints Over PSG's Public Messi Pursuit Are Quite Rich
Barcelona finds itself in quite a few uncomfortable positions these days. There's the most literal one, which is in La Liga's standings. Eight points behind Atlético Madrid, while having played a game more—all while Luis Suárez, which it urgently ushered out the door to Atleti, leads the league in scoring—Barcelona's attempts to regain domestic bragging rights look futile.
Financially, the club is in peril, with reports of over $1 billion in debt, while its lack of steady leadership due to Josep Bartomeu's October resignation and the postponement of its subsequent presidential election to March 7 has put the club in business purgatory. The leaking of Lionel Messi's norm-shattering contract details in El Mundo newspaper resulted in another layer of embarrassment, with the club and its ex-president forced to scramble and deny their roles in leaking the confidential information.
Then there's the big looming cloud of discomfort: that Messi could be representing another club in just a few months.
It's no secret that Messi, who wanted to depart over the summer, is out of contract at the end of this season, and, given the financial requirements it would take to sign him, (even without a transfer fee), the list of realistic suitors to woo him from Camp Nou is brief. Man City and PSG are the two most likely candidates for reasons that are clear both financially and personally (Messi's prior connection to Man City manager Pep Guardiola and his friendship with former teammate and current PSG star Neymar chief among them).
To that end, some in the PSG camp have unabashedly put on a public full-court press while discussing their desire for Messi to come to the French capital.
Angel Di Maria, Messi's international teammate who also is out of contract this summer, told Argentina's TyC Sports recently, "I would be very happy to play alongside him. ... I have already played with Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé. If I could play as well with Leo, I could happily retire after that.
“It would be the best. I could not ask for anything more in football.”
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti added fuel to the fire over the weekend.
“Of course, I would like to play with Messi," he told Canal+. “To have him in the squad would be something magnificent, one more thing that football would give to me.
“I would give the ball to Neymar and Messi and stay behind to just enjoy watching them a bit.”
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Leandro Paredes, another Argentine international at PSG, chimed in as well, telling Canal+, "It's natural that everyone wants Messi on their team. He'll choose the best for him but of course it would be great to have a player like him."
Even the club's sporting director, Leonardo, waded in.
“Great players like Messi will always be on PSG's list. But this is of course not the time to talk about it, or to dream about it," he told France Football last month, evidently not noticing the contradiction in his remarks. “But we are seated at the large table of those clubs who are following the matter closely. In fact, no, we are not yet seated, but our chair is reserved just in case. Four months in football is an eternity, especially in this period.”
It's understandable that Barça, then, would become a bit perturbed, especially with a Champions League last-16 showdown vs. PSG on the horizon. The timing makes everything a bit more unsettling. The first leg is next Tuesday at Camp Nou, which, in theory, could be Messi's last home game for Barcelona in European competition unless it advances.
"For me, [Di Maria has shown] lack of respect. It's not respectful to speak so much about someone who is still a Barça player," manager Ronald Koeman said last week. "It's not good. It's a mistake to say something like that. It could add further spice to the Champions League game.
"It's not right. [PSG personnel] talk about Leo too much. He plays for Barça and, in addition, we have a two-legged tie against them coming up."
That reaction is quite rich, though. Just have a look in the mirror.
Barcelona has had no problem openly discussing other clubs' players in the past, with Koeman as guilty as anyone. Barça's attempts to sign Memphis Depay, whom Koeman coached with the Netherlands national team, from Lyon, didn't wind up working out, but not for a lack of public posturing.
“We want to sign Depay, and he wants to come, too,” Koeman said in October, as the extended summer transfer deadline was closing.
A couple of weeks later, addressing the chances he'd be signed in January, Koeman was at it again.
“It’s a possibility," he said. "I will try, because I want to have him at Barcelona, but I can’t know what the financial situation of the club will be then. We’ll have to wait.”
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The irony isn't lost on Lyon coach Rudi Garcia.
"I read that Koeman was a bit offended that PSG talked about Leo Messi before the Champions League match between PSG and Barcelona," Garcia said this week. "He was not shy about talking about Memphis Depay even after the transfer market. It is called the water sprinkler, and the sprinkler has been sprinkled."
Koeman has also been forthcoming with his wishes to sign Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum and Manchester City's Eric Garcia—who, like Depay and Messi, are both out of contract this summer—ahead of next season. To not recognize the hypocrisy is just a complete lack of self-awareness.
Some of the discord could be settled on the field over the next few weeks, when Barcelona and PSG meet over the course of two legs on the Champions League stage. Barcelona put itself in position to face a tougher, less comfortable opponent by squandering an opportunity in a rather careless way in the group finale vs. Juventus. It failed to handle its business properly and settled for a second-choice finish and less-than-ideal scenario—a product very much of its own doing. The metaphor there, considering all of the circumstances surrounding the club and its lack of accountability, is loud and clear.
