Deferred Salary? Barcelona Continues to Pay Messi Despite PSG, Inter Miami Move | OneFootball

Although Lionel Messi left FC Barcelona in 2021, the Argentine still has a connection to the club, well a financial one.

Barcelona’s financial hurdles are well documented. As a result, the Spanish club’s president confirmed that they were paying the Argentine during his time at Paris Saint-Germain.

Furthermore, they will still pay him even as he ventures to Inter Miami. Barcelona’s ongoing payments to Messi result from a deferred salary arrangement until 2025.

“What we owe him are the salary deferrals which had been decided at the previous board of directors,” Barcelona president Joan Laporta said in an interview for La Vanguardia (h/t Culture PSG). “Delays in payments that will end in 2025. He is paid religiously.”

To navigate the financial constraints, Barcelona and Messi’s representatives likely agreed upon a deferred salary structure, extending the payment of a portion of his wages over a more extended period.

This decision gave the club much-needed flexibility while adhering to financial fair play regulations. Messi already has millions in his bank account; it’s likely why the 36-year-old took this option to help the Catalan side.

Messi will have played for two clubs while still earning a paycheck from the LaLiga side, which he rejected this summer to join Inter Miami.