[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Not a great football fan but all this nonsense over Messi blarting about leaving Barcelona. My understanding is that they really couldn't afford his wages forcing him to leave . Perhaps the multi~multi millionaire could have stayed and just received his sponsorship(s) deals and other incomes from outside the clubs finances and forgoing his wages. Surely he doesn't need the money and no doubt his financial future is more than secure. Don't know if I'm missing something  and this isn't really possible but Messi surely could have stayed .

I don't doubt that he's probably got enough money to last several lifetimes, even allowing for the lifestyle that the wealthy tend to adopt. But in fairness to him, he also funds UNICEF, has his own children's charity providing access to education, healthcare and sport for the disadvantaged, has supported Medicin Sans Frontieres and Covid vaccine research, and in addition to taking a voluntary pay cut during the pandemic, paid the salaries of many of Barcelona's backroom staff out of his own pocket. If a percentage of his wages are going to causes like that, I find it hard to begrudge him a penny of them. Besides which, what obligation does he have to Barcelona beyond the twenty years of his career he's already given them and the countless trophies won?