Barcelona’s €10m offer to Messi eclipsed by Manchester City’s €12m proposal - Report
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 @ 11:15 AM
The Blaugrana have been forced to dig deep into their pockets to keep their promise of making ‘Little Lionel’ the best paid player at the Camp Nou. Barcelona have wasted little time in ensuring Lionel Messi remains their number one star and their highest paid player following the big-money arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Catalan juggernauts have already begun negotiations to improve Messi’s current deal of €8 million net per year and La Vanguardia have reported that they will offer the Argentine a figure close to €10 million net.
But the amount still fails to match what Manchester City were willing to offer ‘El Mesias’, believed to be €12 million net. Barca have a distinct disadvantage with Messi as the Argentine is considered a Spanish resident for tax purposes and he will be hit with a 40% tax rate. As such, his employers’ offer of €16 million gross per year will be cut down to just €10 million net, only €5m more than Ibrahimovic’s annual wages of €9.5m (€12.5m gross). The Swede, as well as Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, are only taxed 24% as they are foreigners, giving the clubs more room to negotiate for a bigger contract. Messi did, however, earn €10.4m from the Blaugrana last season after pocketing the full €2.4m in bonuses for winning the treble.
Source: Goal.com