Barcelona: Tebas and Laporta meet to unblock Messi deal

According to 'Sport', Tebas and Laporta have arranged a meeting on Friday to discuss how to press ahead with Messi's contract within salary constraints.

According to reports in Sport, Joan Laporta has travelled to Madrid to meet up with LaLiga president Javier Tebas in an attempt to make sure that Leo Messi's new contract with Barça complies with the salary limit which LaLiga has imposed on the Catalan club. 

Barcelona have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen their income plummet and now face the task of reducing their wage bill. According to some sources, they need to slash their salary bill by 200 million euros.

Financial Fair Play

On Wednesday night, Laporta admitted that Messi's signature depends on them getting the green light from LaLiga: "I know that Leo wants to stay. Talks have been going well and we are making every effort to ensure that he stays. We have to fit in with Financial Fair Play rules. There are a lot of alternatives and we are studying all of them. 

I'd like to be able to tell you right now that Leo is staying, but as things stand I can't do that because we are in the process of finding the best solution. We're heading in the right direction. It's all about Financial Fair Play, basically," the Barcelona president told José Ramón de la Morena on Onda Cero's El Transistor programme.