This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 22, 2021 - March 28, 2021

Call it the chill blast of Covid-19 financial reality. After Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo prematurely bowed out of the Champions League this month, football has been rife with speculation that their respective clubs, Barcelona and Juventus, may have to offload them to survive.

The pair, who have towered over the game in scintillating tandem for a decade and a half, have endured much “end of an era” talk. Their final chapters are eagerly awaited and, like an airport thriller, may have an unexpected twist.

At the time of writing, they are top scorers in their respective leagues, with Ronaldo, 36, having just eclipsed Pele’s record to reach a mammoth 770 career goals. Both are still carrying their teams on the field, but the issue is whether their teams can continue to carry them on the balance sheet.

After a year with no income from fans, Barcelona and Juventus find themselves stuck on the sharp horns of a classic “football vs business” dilemma. If it seems sacrilegious for either player to be ushered to the exit, it is a no-brainer for the accountants: They are not just luxuries, but millstones dragging the clubs deeper into the mire.

As a recent column highlighted, what Barcelona pay Messi (total package of €555 million or RM2.7 billion) is more than half their €1 billion debt but, as the contract is up for renewal in the summer, the €700 million release clause will expire, too, meaning the club can no longer cash in on him.

The best Barca can do is what they have done with other highly paid stars and remove him from the wage bill. But, with the Argentine, who will be 34 in June, it is not that simple. He is more than an icon — he is the club’s greatest ever player and one of the top two or three of all time. Barca nurtured him from an underdeveloped child and he has been with them for 21 years. With his unique back story, he is not just the face of the club; he is its soul.

If he left, much of the aura would go with him. Many of the club’s sponsors, involved only for their brands to catch a little of his stardust, might go, too. And the sense of a sinking ship could even extend to fans among the global diaspora.

As terrifyingly red as Messi’s package may look on the balance sheet, he is still very much in the black on the field. He does not just paper over the cracks, he covers them with velvet, and is once again the league’s leading scorer. An exciting generation of academy graduates is already looking up to him as an inspirational figure. Significantly, perhaps, he seems to be relishing the role.

Weighing all this up makes deciding on the Olympics seem straightforward but at least Barca have just elected an old broom. Joan Laporta, who was president during the golden years under Pep Guardiola, is back in charge. Messi voted for him and Laporta campaigned on the promise that the little maestro would stay.

However, if he believes Messi’s love of the club means he will take a pay cut, he has to think again. According to reports, Messi wants to know whether Laporta will have the budget for the sort of signings that would make another tilt at the Champions League realistic. The Argentine may be fading, but he is not “going gentle into that good night”.

Given his demands on and off the field, there are only two possible destinations: state-owned Manchester City and Paris St Germain (PSG), both of which offer — at least on paper — a better chance of landing the ultimate prize than a hastily rebuilt Barca would.

Paris may be the more romantic city, but both clubs have their attractions. Messi’s mentor, Guardiola, is at City among a sizeable Spanish-speaking hierarchy. So, too, is best mate, Sergio Aguero, although PSG may try to take him there. City have the strongest squad in Europe, but the downside is the weather and the relentless fixture list. It could come down to whether he fancies hard tackles on a cold, wet night in Burnley.

France’s Ligue Un offers a much easier ride. Most games are called “holidays”, as good buddy, Neymar, will no doubt inform him. At both Paris and Manchester, money is no object. Both he and his president have much to ponder.

Ronaldo’s case is very different. There is not the long-term loyalty at Juve, as he has been there less than three seasons — brought in as an expensive but calculated gamble to take them to the next level as European champions. But, although the Portuguese has kept his side of the bargain in terms of goals, Juve have not kept theirs.

The erstwhile perennial Italian champions have slipped from their perch partly because of having to pay the Portuguese a king’s ransom similar to what Messi gets. Unable to reach even the quarter-finals in Europe in two of the last three years, they have broken their pay structure, yet cannot afford to remedy obvious weaknesses on the field.

Ronaldo’s goals (93 in 118 games) cannot either, and are costing them €54 million a year. Or, more than the next four highest paid players combined. It was all part of a marketing campaign to join the European elite, but what is the good of a turbocharger when the wheels are coming off?

According to Italy’s SportMediaset website, it is no longer sustainable in the new economic climate, the club having announced a loss of £100 million for the first half of this season. Like everyone else, they did not see Covid-19 coming, but you might say they panicked before the pandemic.

Fed up with falling short of the Holy Grail, Juve president and scion of the Fiat car family, Andrea Agnelli, saw CR7 as making the difference. But it was still a reckless gamble. Fiat car workers, who had been denied a pay rise, went on strike. Similarly, the ageing superstar, who has never been mistaken for a workhorse, has downed tools when it comes to tracking back. His stats for tackles and interceptions this season are a hands-on-hips 0.4 per 90 minutes.

And in a game where pressing is de rigueur, he does less than Messi (0.7). So, despite their goals, the pair’s presence can be a hindrance to their team’s effectiveness. It is not just “slash and burn” accountants who feel both clubs would be better off without such high maintenance.

Severing the link may be a lot easier for Agnelli than Laporta, despite the loss of face. Juve might even get a fee for CR7, as his contract has another year to run. Still, the damage has been done: The Old Lady has become more doddering. Of Ronaldo’s time in Turin, La Gazzetta dello Sport columnist Luigi Garlando was in no doubt when he wrote: “The summary is a single word: failure.”

As for Barca, they are still in contention for what cynics might say is a unique treble — the league, the cup and going bust.

Football vs business? The wise money is on a 1-1 draw with extra time much anticipated.

Bob Holmes is a long-time sports writer who specialises in football

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