The economic vice-president of Barcelona has claimed that the club were correct to reject the “poisoned gift” that would have allowed them to keep Lionel Messi beyond this summer.
The Argentine superstar left the Camp Nou this summer as the club were unable to register any new contract as they needed to significantly reduce their wage budget for this season.
Barca did however have the opportunity to receive an immediate injection of cash this summer through an external deal from La Liga with investment company CVC.
The Catalan giants were one of four La Liga member clubs - alongside Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Real Oviedo - to reject the offer.
The Spanish league confirmed last month that CVC would inject £2.3billion into La Liga in exchange for 10 percent of its revenue and a 10 percent stake in most of its business, with 90 percent of the injection going to clubs.
It would alleviate immediate financial problems of the leading clubs and provide a relatively significant cash injection throughout the league, with 70 percent of the budget designated for infrastructure and club's long-term growth.
The Catalan club rejected the investment opportunity as it would have been a long-term economic contract with La Liga, which would have been at odds with their ambitions to join a future European Super League.
The club’s economic vice-president Eduard Romeu has now confirmed that the league’s proposal would have allowed them to tie down Messi to a new contract, but Barca opted against it.
Romeu also rejected suggestions from La Liga president Javier Tebas that Barca had the economic capacity to renew Messi’s contract, something that the club have always claimed was not the case.
Romeu told Diario Sport : "Those suggestions are not true. First, because we do not have that power. It was an operation that as a club we could not afford, it did not fit into our economic structure.
"La Liga gave us the option to do it with the CVC contract, yes, but it was a poisoned gift that from the economic area we recommend to the club that we should not accept.
"The institution was put at risk and the president already said that no one could be above the club. This was the right decision."
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner subsequently was forced to exit Barca this summer - with whom he had spent the entirety of his professional career.
The 34-year-old signed a two-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he has made three appearances but is yet to find the net.
