Lionel Messi is set to sue Spanish newspaper El Mundo and the five Barcelona club members who may have been responsible for leaking images of his current contract to the media.
The 33-year-old put his pen to paper on the deal in 2017, and documents leaked at the end of January show the Argentine superstar will have earned € 492million when it expires in the summer of 2021. .
Messi is understandably furious at the article published in El Mundo, and he has decided to sue the Spanish media, as well as the five Barca officials who had access to the private documents, as reported by RAC1.
This is the first time the superstar has thrown blame at anyone’s door for an act considered illegal and punishable by law. Details published in the report show that the superstar became the highest paid player in world football in 2017, when he signed the bumper contract in question, worth 492 million euros.
The story has caught the world’s attention, with many turning on Messi and blaming him for Barcelona’s financial demise.
Messi suspects that former president Josep Maria Bartomeu is behind the leak, given the fractured nature of their relationship, which led the striker to attempt to terminate his contract in order to force him to leave Camp Nou this summer.
Along with Bartomeu, Jordi Mestre, the former vice-president, general manager Oscar Grau, club chairman Carles Tusquets and club head of legal services Roma Gomez Ponti are all possible culprits of this crime.
Barcelona are also carrying out an internal investigation to find out who might have leaked the documents to the press, as they seek to repair relations with their talisman. But with Messi’s contract expiring this summer and the Argentine weighing his options, this act of betrayal could be the last straw for Barca’s greatest player.
