Barcelona’s hopes of offering their all-time top scorer Lionel Messi an improved contract faces a stumbling block because of the expenditure caps imposed by Primera Liga, the Spanish champions’ chief executive Oscar Grau said.
Messi’s feted strike partners Luis Suarez and Neymar have both signed new deals until 2021, but the Argentine maestro’s contract runs out on June 30, 2018, giving Barca a window of 18 months to prevent him leaving the club for free.
Messi earns a reported €22 million (Dh84.9m) per year after tax from Barca.
Neymar and Suarez’s salaries are estimated to be about €25 million after their contract renewals.
Primera Liga agrees budgetary limits with each club at the start of every season to prevent club’s from spending over 70 per cent of their budget on wages.
Barca’s budget for this season is a record €695 million, second highest in the world, trailing only Manchester United, according to Global Sports Salary Survey.
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“Barcelona has to analyse this situation with a cold head and common sense,” Grau said. “Barca can’t exceed 70 per cent of its budget on wages and therefore we have to make the numbers add up.”
Grau said one way would be to increase revenues. Their latest sponsorship deal with Japanese retailer Rakuten, the biggest in world football, will earn the club €55 million per year.
“The club wants the best player in the world to stay at Barca,” Grau said. “I would like to ease the concerns of club members and supporters but we have to use common sense.”.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane will not use Cristiano Ronaldo in the second leg against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.
Zidane will also rest Luka Modric when Madrid try to defend a 3-0 win from the first leg.
Zidane said James Rodriguez will not travel because of a calf problem, but defender Sergio Ramos will be back after a long injury layoff.
Wilfried Zaha scored his first goal for African champions Ivory Coast as they trounced Uganda 3-0 in a warm-up match for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ivory Coast hope to become only the fourth country after Egypt, Ghana and Cameroon to successfully defend the Afcon title when the tournament kicks off this Saturday in Gabon.
Germany defender Holger Badstuber is relishing his loan transfer from Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to Schalke until the end of the season to help kick-start his career.
Badstuber, 27, has suffered numerous injuries in the past four years, including back-to-back knee injuries, and has played just 28 minutes of Bundesliga football since October.
* Agencies
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