Whoever followed the news lately knew that something was going to happen with the future of Lionel Messi. And finally it seems like a done deal: Messi would be leaving Barcelona and will likely sign with the City Football Group, owner of Manchester City.

A Messi transfer bound to happen

The football days of Club Icons staying in their clubs forever, seem to be completely over now. When Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus after 9 seasons in La Liga, we can imagine Messi felt a bit lonely in the La Liga, without his archrival Cristiano Ronaldo in the league.

We can also image that after losing the title to rival Real Madrid and losing 2-8 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, he felt that his time come and it was time for a new adventure, after 16 years in the first team of FC Barcelona.

Messi’s new multi-stop adventure

At the end of August it became clear Messi wanted to leave, sending an official email, stating his official interest of leaving the club. It did not take long before people started linking The Flea to Manchester City. The rumors seem to be true and Messi supposedly has signed for the City Football Group, the holding company of Premier League club Manchester City.

It is expected that he will be playing for the Premier League side for at least a few years, and then move to the MLS, to play with CFG’s franchise New York City FC. The exact timing of the cross-Atlantic switch is still unknown, but we should be able to enjoy Messi’s quality alongside Kevin de Bruyne and fellow Argentinian Sergio Agüero for long enough.

Messi would later become one of many old football legends appearing in the MLS, a football league known for that feature. David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimović and old Barcelona teammate David Villa are only a handful of people who have made the move before.

Messi vs Barcelona – Contract issue

It goes without saying that a lot of money is involved in this deal and all parties want to have their own piece of the pie. While Messi’s contract with Barcelona contains a clause that permits him to leave transfer fee free if he states his intention to do so within a certain time before the end of the season.

While this usually expires in June, the Covid situation postponed the end of the season, meaning he would be in time for the free transfer. The Spanish side does not agree and keeps insisting that the 700 million release clause has to be paid first before a transfer would be possible.

Biggest online casino jackpot pays you a month of Messi

While this might promise to be a promising legal battle, it would not be able to stop Messi from going to the City Football Group. Messi has agreed on financial terms to earn a whopping 700 million euro over the course of 5 years with the City Football Group. In simple words: this would be 140 million euro per year or about 11.6 million euro per month. To give a comparison: if you would be lucky to win the biggest jackpot ever won in an online casino, about 17.8 million euro, you would only be able to afford Messi for 1.5 months.

Online casinos might offer a quick way to victory but as seen throughout Messis career, hard work does pay out. And its about to again in a big way.