‘Messi is getting nervous’: La Liga boss claims he has ‘no doubt’ Real Madrid supremo scuppered Barcelona’s hopes of keeping icon

The president of Spain's Liga has claimed that Florentino Perez, the president of Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid, was "behind it all" when a chain of financial events lorced Lionel Messi's dramatic exit to PSG.

Javier Tebas, the boss of the Spanish top flight, is currently at loggerheads with Perez – and, to a lesser extent, Barca head Joan Laporta – over their flirtation with the failed European Super League and refusal of backing from investment fund CVC that would have helped both clubs' struggling finances. 

He insists that Laporta was ready to give the green light to the $2.4 billion CVC deal, but suspects that Perez's meddling caused a domino effect that resulted in Messi leaving the club he had been at for all 21 years of his senior career, heading to PSG as a free agent in one of the greatest transfer shocks of all time.

"I had dinner at Laporta's house and he agreed to sign the CVC agreement," Tebas explained to Cope.

"I didn't know if Messi could renew because of that, but later I got a call [from Laporta]. 'Can we accelerate the CVC deal? The kid [Messi] is getting nervous,' he said.

"I told him: 'The day it comes out, Florentino is going to try and burst it.' And Laporta told me: 'No, no, I have character.' Florentino's behind it all, I have no doubt," Tebas insisted.

"There was an agreement that if [Barca] signed the CVC deal, they could have put 15% of the money towards signing players. In my opinion, they could have signed [a contract extension with] Messi.

"Laporta signed players like Memphis [Depay], [Sergio] Aguero... if he didn't sign those players, Messi could [have continued at the club]," Tebas added, referencing the salary cap that Barca failed to manage as they lost the six-time Ballon d'Or winner in August.

In Spain, it is widely suspected that Perez and Laporta do not want to sign up to the CVC deal as it could effectively kill off hopes of resurrecting the Super League one day under the terms of the 50-year repayment scheme for the investment.

In public, however, Laporta claimed that he wasn't willing to "mortgage" the future of the club for the next half-century. 

While Athletic Bilbao also refused to put pen to paper, 17 other Liga clubs accepted the immediate cash injection.

In return for the deal, CVC would assume a 10% share of the Spanish top flight, but it cannot take a slice of earnings from the three rebel clubs that have refused to collaborate.

By not signing up, Barca's spending limit has been cut to a mere $112 million, with other stars such as Antoine Griezmann, La Masia pearl Ilaix Moriba and summer signing Emerson Royal all exiting the Camp Nou recently.

Last season, the limit exceeded $345 million, while in 2019-20 – pre-pandemic – it was double that figure.

While Barca have been depleted, supposedly cash-strapped Real Madrid have been rebuffed in a bid of more than $230 million for PSG and France striker Kylian Mbappe and carried out a major renovation of their Bernabeu stadium.