THE COACH | The devaluation of Messi and the damages of his divorce from FC Barcelona
This weekend it transpired that Lionel Messi has been devalued since his departure from FC Barcelona by more than 40 million dollars, seeing his cost in the market fall from $ 113.22 million to $ 67.94 million in just under a year, precisely with his arrival at the French PSG.
Despite the fact that the Argentine is considered the best player in the history of football for his personal and collective achievements – he has 7 Ballons d’Or, 7 Golden Boots, a The Best award, a FIFA World Player award, he is the top scorer in the world. The history of Barca, the player with the most goals in LaLiga, has won a Copa América (2021), a gold medal at the Olympic Games (2008) and the U-20 World Cup (2005), among other successes, – his value is decreasing Over the years and despite the fact that he was recently awarded by France Football magazine as the best footballer of 2021.
Lionel Messi has devalued more than $ 40 million at PSG?#messipsg #messiah #messiballondorhttps://t.co/MuNiqN5GXB
– FanSided ES (@FanSided_ES) December 27, 2021
But why is Messi worth less now that he is in a better assembled team than FC Barcelona and has just won his seventh Ballon d’Or?
From the moment that Messi signed his divorce with the Catalan club, a new stage in his career – perhaps the last – opened his way. The Argentine would no longer be venerated as an untouchable figure in Catalonia and would be demanded like any earthly player in the fields of Paris. And in the end, time, adaptation and the discomfort of having left Barca in tears could be making him pay for a difficult first half of the season in Ligue 1, despite having some glimpses of “that old Messi” in the Champions League .
To date, ‘La Pulga’ has scored a goal and has distributed 4 assists in 11 games and 865 minutes played in the French championship; numbers far below those he was used to registering as the leader of FC Barcelona. In the European Champions League he has scored 5 goals in the same number of games, two of which have been penalties.
It is very common to see Messi on his social networks with his family, enjoying the Eiffel Tower, in exotic places or simply having dinner with his wife in the best restaurants in Paris; and this could denote that, beyond having adopted France as his new home and place where to raise his children; Perhaps Messi already, at 34, does not watch football with the hunger of the past. Maybe he is already on the road that will lead him in a short time to give an exhibition of a couple of years in the MLS and then hang up his boots.
It is absolutely normal that Messi has been devalued. All footballers in the world see their cost fall in the market with the passing of time and the appearance of the figures who will take their places on the world scene, however, who knows what would be happening if the Argentine had continued in Barcelona, with the tranquility of being at home, in your “comfort zone”, what psychologists call a place of “neutral anxiety” and “no sense of risk.”
The separation of Messi and Barca, either because of the financial claims of the player and his father or the goal of President Joan Laporta to save the club financially, only left negative things around him. It was a bomb that left significant collateral damage: The unexpected rebuilding of the Barça club and the fleeting decline of the best player in football history.
