This story’s almost two weeks old, but the first time I read it I thought “Great, another journalist/football expert/crazy fan is trying to put a ‘I-wouldn’t-sell-him-not-even-for-$$$$$$$$$$$$$$’ tag on Lionel Messi”. After the whole Kaká-to-Man-City BS, it’s understandable why the good folks at Barcelona would snub a €120m+ offer (that’s how much the Brazilian midfielder was worth, according to the EPL emirs) and claim their Messi-ah is worth a helluva a lot more.

Only, it turns it that there are elaborate economic & financial calculations behind the latest “Messi is worth €254 million” claims.

Catalan newspaper El Mundo Deportivo are the folks making these claims, and it’s all based on Messi’s €150m contract-release clause. “Messi’s price is much higher than what his release clause states” says El Mundo. Indeed, the cost of buying Messi for your club would be over €250m: in addition to Messi’s playing rights, a president would have to pay 16% IVA tax (Impuesto sobre el valor añadido, or Value Added Tax -VAT), upping the costs to €174m. This would still not be enough, because the Spanish authorities would then claim the IRPF (Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas) or Income Tax on those €174m. And since said tax is set at 46%, this would push the total costs to a whopping astronomical €254m.”

Now I’m no financial wiz, so I can only assume the above calculations to be correct. But surely that’s a fair amount of money for a player capable of changing the face of game (see video above), one who was tagged by an arch-rival captain and that guy managing England as the best in the world? Kaká-who?

Not only that, but this 46% would have to be paid by Messi himself, meaning that whoever buys him would have to make a serious cash advance on the purchase. And let’s not forget the (moderate in comparison) yearly wage that Leo is currently earning with Barcelona: €15m/year. The buying club would at least have to match the little Argie’s wage demands, and you can bet your ass he won’t be willing to leave the current best club in the world for anything less than his own weight in gold.

Tags: Barcelona, Impuesto sobre el valor añadido, Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas, Income Tax, IRPF, IVA, Lionel Messi, Spanish Liga, Value Added Tax, VAT

Posted in Player Profiles, Spanish Liga, Transfer News & Rumours |

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 5:45 am and is filed under Player Profiles, Spanish Liga, Transfer News & Rumours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.