# Messi's contract was filthier richer than we imagined ($674 million)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/messis-contract-was-filthier-richer-than-we-imagined-674-million/931999>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** football-soccer-fifa\
**Created:** [February 1, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/messis-contract-was-filthier-richer-than-we-imagined-674-million/931999 "2021-02-01T15:50:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/messis-contract-was-filthier-richer-than-we-imagined-674-million/931999/1 "2021-02-01T15:50:22Z")

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A Spanish newspaper leaked the [details](https://sports.yahoo.com/lionel-messi-fc-barcelona-contract-leaked-patrick-mahomes-500-million-deal-055104463.html):

Messi was earning a salary of 138 million euros per year (over $166 million/year), and got a 115 million euro renewal fee and a 78 million euro loyalty bonus.

Look, I am a huge Messi fan, so I’m not begrudging him anything. But I do have a few ignorant-American questions:

- Is a renewal fee and loyalty bonus the norm in European football, and how is it different than a signing bonus in American sports?
- Why is a team like Barca over 400 million euros in debt? Is debt the norm for European teams? Are any North American teams in debt?
- How much would it cost to sell a player like Messi?
- Why were his contract details secret? Is it customary for European sports salaries to be secret? In American sports, they’re all totally public.

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**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/messis-contract-was-filthier-richer-than-we-imagined-674-million/931999/2 "2021-02-01T16:37:39Z")

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And now Leonil and Barca are suing. I guess freedom of the press isnt a thing in Spain. Things will get Messi.

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**Author:** ![michaelwilson777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@michaelwilson777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/michaelwilson777)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/messis-contract-was-filthier-richer-than-we-imagined-674-million/931999/3 "2021-02-15T16:54:35Z")

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It’s an interesting fact in terms of Messi’s transfer as it could make their relationships worse with Barca(even worse as it was before lol). So we may see the most legendary transfer in history this summer!