Gerardo Molina, honourary profesor and specialist in sports marketing for the company Euromericas Sport Marketing, has written a report on the market value of Leo Messi and claims the Barcelona and Argentina star is worth an astounding €400 million.
Molina explained the findings of his report while speaking on radio station Cadena SER, and revealed that there is a club, which he implied was Paris Saint-Germain, that was ready to pay the astronomic fee for the Argentine.
“There is a club that is practically sponsored by a government that would be prepared to pay €400 million for Leo Messi,” said Molina.
“There are three European clubs that asked us to come up with this study in order to find out how much Messi was worth. We cannot say who the clubs are. The clubs wanted to analyse the viability of a possible transfer for Messi.”
Molina continued:
“Messi is five times more marketable than Cristiano Ronaldo. According to studies, Ronaldo is worth between €150 and €160 million. Messi’s buy-out clause is €250 million, we believe that figure is obsolete and devalued. Right now there is no player in the world of sport that has a greater value than Leo Messi. According to market research in the last five years, Messi is worth €400 million.”
Molina is obviously referring to French Champions PSG when he says that one of the teams interested in the study was a “club that is practically sponsored by a government”. The other teams that have been linked with a move for Messi are Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Chelsea. I would not be surprised if a couple of those clubs paid for the study to be conducted.
A €400m valuation means that after paying Messi’s world record €250m buyout clause, that teams can still give him a five-year contract at around €30m a year and still stay within budget!
Those numbers become even more manageable if a club can get a partner like ADIDAS to pay for half of the transfer fee as Chelsea and Bayern did this summer, but Messi turned down the deal.
But with Messi’s deteriorating relationship with Barcelona, it looks like at least three clubs think enough of the possibility that Messi would be willing to leave the Camp Nou next summer that they have paid for a study on the economics of a world smashing deal.
