Since midnight, Lionel Messi is already a player without a team. As of today, the Argentine star's relationship with Barcelona, which began in 2001 when he was 13 years old, has been liquidated. Despite the shocking news, optimism and confidence remain in the Catalan club that Messi will sign accepting the club's proposal. In fact, President Joan Laporta said when he entered the club's offices on Wednesday at noon that he was “calm” on this issue.
From Argentina it is pointed in the same direction. Messi's continuity is taken for granted at the Camp Nou, but they add that the staging of the signing and the commitment will take place after the Copa América that Messi is playing in Brazil and that will end on July 11.
For Messi, this competition and the Albiceleste team are paramount issues and he does not want anything to distract him on the way to achieving a goal he has pursued for a long time.
Beyond the concern that may cause the fact that the best player in the club's history is starting this Thursday without a contract, this fact causes some consequences while this state of affairs lasts.
The most prominent is the fact that if Messi had the misfortune of injuring himself in the course of the Copa América while he is without a contract, the Argentine would be excluded from the club's medical coverage and at the same time, Barcelona would not receive insurance compensation from FIFA agreed for the days off.
A different situation, for example, to that of Dembélé, injured with France in the European Championship dispute and who will be out for four months during which the Blaugrana team will receive a compensation of 20,548 euros per day from the FIFA Protection Program and up to a maximum of one year.
What's more, as reported by the newspaper Sport, as long as Messi remains unsigned by Barcelona, the team will not be able to use Messi's image with the new shirt or anything from the future season or sell Messi jerseys from the 2021/22 season in your official store.
But beyond commercial issues, There is a question that affects the planning of the next campaign regarding whether Messi's signing from July 1 is considered a renewal or a transfer. There are opinions for all tastes, but depending on the one that is imposed in LaLiga it can have consequences, because if Tebas considers it as a transfer it would affect the salary limit of the team.
Peace of mind can also be tense and Messi's contractual situation is a good example of this.