Messi blames Pique for Barcelona exit
Robin Bairner
- 27 Jan 2022 08:50 GMT
- 3 min read
Lionel Messi feels that Gerard Pique was partly to blame for his summer exit from Barcelona, according to a report in Spain.
Messi departed Barca for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer when it became apparent that the club could not afford a new contract for him.
Due to the tight salary cap facing Barca, they would have had no way of registering him had he signed a new deal.
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Indeed, Barca had trouble finding space in their squad for summer signings Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero, who has since retired. All three are on deals considerably smaller than Messi.
Ultimately, these new additions were only made possible by players agreeing to cuts in their own contracts. Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets were two of the senior players to agree to reductions in their salaries.
Pique, however, was far slower to agree to such a deal. Indeed, by the time he took a cut to allow the new additions to play, Messi had already departed for PSG.
Messi feels let down by Pique
According to TV3 programme ‘Onze’, Messi remains disappointed with Pique for taking so long to change his stance, potentially denying the Argentine the opportunity to remain with Barca, where he had played the entirety of his professional career before leaving for PSG.
It has been suggested that this could be a reason why Pique was not present at Xavi’s birthday dinner earlier this week, although that is pure speculation.
Messi has found life difficult since moving to PSG, where he has managed to score just a single goal in Ligue 1. He has fared better in the Champions League, scoring five times in five games as the Parisians have negotiated their way to the last 16, where they will face Real Madrid in a match up the Argentine is no doubt relishing.
