Barça, through the mouths of its president, its directors, its coach and its footballers, have been proclaiming to the four winds for weeks that they wanted Messi back. The Argentine, through the spokesperson for his father Jorge de él, pointed out as close as this Monday that the striker wanted to return to Catalan lands. But 48 hours later the farce is over. The good theater has lowered the curtain. With that meeting, which was for a coffee and little else, Barcelona and the footballer staged an attempt to reach an agreement. But it was just that, in view of the events, an act that could have been performed in the tablaos of the Comedia dell'arte.
Because two years after the man from Rosario left the Camp Nou in tears once the club did not want to comply with the conditions of LaLiga and the famous agreement with CVC, Barça's salary situation continues to be very worrying. The blaugrana board announced more than a year ago that it wanted to reduce wages to 400 million but from the feasibility plan approved by the employers on Tuesday it appears that wages are still through the roof. Neither more nor less than around 650 million. That is to say, that if Messi did not want to wait there was nothing to do. But it is that if he had changed his mind and had waited a few weeks in case Barça found a solution, nobody can put their hand in the fire that then he could have been registered.
Who can guarantee that the club will sell footballers like Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Kessié or Eric Garcia at the price needed to balance the financial 'fair play'? And if they do, on what date?
At this point in his career Messi has preferred not to suffer, not to maintain uncertainty, not to spend a summer of suspense, pressure and soap operas. He already did it two seasons ago and ended up grieving in PSG's golden prison. What is not understood, seen what has been seen, is that Barça took out the botafumeiro for months to sell a return operation that has not even started. There has never been a formal and real offer. Never some bases to put on the table.
Why then the insistence with the signing of Messi? Why else were there no real options? There have been no journalistic insinuations or front pages to fill the day. They have been public statements, starting with that of the sports vice-president, Rafael Yuste, and ending with the recurring ones from the coach, intensified in the last press conferences.
Yes, Messi, like almost all footballers and almost always, had the upper hand. Yes, he could have rushed his chances of continuing in the elite because he still has plenty of quality. But he was not to blame for his departure the first time and now he is not the main person responsible for not returning.
