Football News: Will Tax Troubles Force Neymar and Messi To Leave Barca?

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Right now, there are so many comments from agents, parents, journalists and sundry other people relating to the Barcelona tax cases involving Neymar Jr. and Lionel Messi, that it is hard to get away from stories about them joining A. N. Other FC. Every club with money is now being linked to one, or both, of the pair, as their tax issues become more and more of a problem. With Messi facing legal action in Spain and Neymar Jr. back home in his native Brazil, is it now time for the pair to seek pastures new, with the lure of a huge signing fee covering any tax bills?

Adidas would certainly love to move Lionel Messi to one of their clubs, such as Chelsea, to improve their marketing efforts. Messi, for obvious reasons, is the main face of their football advertising, with his picture on billboards all over the world and a range of clothing bearing his name on the racks of sports shops. Right now, adidas are a long way behind the level Nike have managed to reach using basketball stars, such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, Messi is their chance to change that.

While that suggests a potential destination for Messi, it is hard to see Chelsea having the same interest in Neymar Jr.. He does have his own suitors, who have, like Chelsea with Messi, failed in an attempt to sign him recently, Manchester United. As we know, this summer just gone saw the red half of Manchester make a strong effort to make the signing of the Brazilian captain as their big summer capture. The Old Trafford side desperately need a huge signing to restore their former glories and cement their commercial place in the European hierachy.

Those are not the only clubs who would be interested and could potentially afford to sign either of them. Real Madrid could, I am sure, find the money to make either or both their latest Galactico signing, but that is unlikely to happen, as both are likely to be looking to leave Spain to avoid their taxation issues, if they go anywhere. So we can pretty much rule them out as a destination.

Bayern Munich are one of the few clubs that could afford either, or even both of them and the lure of playing for former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola. That is saying he decides to stay at Bayern, which is by no means certain right now. Messi might well want to play for him once more, while Neymar Jr. was one of the players Pep wanted to sign when he took over at Bayern. He was overruled once on that, which is one of the reasons his position at Munich is under consideration, he wishes to have more control over transfers, perhaps Neymar Jr. could be the signing to make him stay.

According to France Football the only option for Pep, if he does leave Bayern, is Manchester City, who would happily offer him full control of transfers to get him to take charge. They would certainly be willing to spend whatever it takes to sign the pair of them, regardless of any FFP issues it would cause. Adding either would make Man City a genuine European force to be feared, even without Pep. It would take the club from an also run in the Champions League, to a genuine challenger.

That only really leaves two other clubs with the financial might required to sign them, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. PSG are certainly no strangers to splashing the cash, as the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed, and the likes of Edison Cavani did not come cheap either. They would certainly want to show intent by challenging for the signings, but there would be some question as to whether either would be interested in playing in the French league.

Would Arsenal really be a genuine contender to sign them? With the uncertainty surrounding Arsene Wenger's long term future, it might make it difficult to convince either to join the Gooners, a lot would depend on the management situation being resolved. One thing that is sure is that Arsenal have the money in the bank to make a deal happen. They could buy them both with their cash reserves, as unlikely as it may be to happen. But one joining is certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Of course all of this could be turned on its head by Catalan independence, when no one knows what would then happen. Would an independent Catalonia even recognise Spanish taxation? Would Barca then be expected to play in a Catalan league, distinct and separate from the Spanish one? If so, what are the likelihood of their better players wanting to stay at the club? There are so many questions and so few answers right now. One thing is for sure, there are some interesting transfer windows to come at Barcelona.

Written by Tris Burke November 19 2015 13:53:45