Barcelona threaten legal action over Messi leak

Spanish giants Barcelona have threatened to take legal action against a Spanish newspaper that leaked details of the club’s contract negotiations with Lionel Messi in 2020, according to a report by ESPN.

On Wednesday, El Mundo released a series of requests Messi made to the club to renew his deal at Camp Nou as he moved into the final year of his terms.

Messi wanted his release clause cut down to €10,000, private boxes at Camp Nou for his and Luis Suarez’s families guarantees that deferred wages would be paid back to him, and backdated commission payments to be paid to his brother Rodrigo for his work as an agent, the publication reported.

“In relation to the information published in El Mundo under the title ‘Barca Leaks, the club’s secret files’, Barcelona express indignation at the intentional leaking of information that is part of a legal process,” the Catalan club said in a statement.

“The club regrets that the media in question boasts of having ‘access to a huge number of documents and emails that are part of the Barcagate investigation’ when this information is yet to be shared.

“In any case, the article in question makes public documents that have nothing to do with the ongoing case, and their use is an affront to the reputation and confidentiality of the club. For that reason, and with the aim of protecting Barcelona’s rights, the club’s legal department is studying the legal measures that need to be taken.”

Barcagate is an ongoing legal case relating to third-party payments, breaching internal protocols and smear campaigns against club legends involving the previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board of directors.

Messi is not part of that case, nor is his previous contract subject to any misdemeanours, but emails exchanged during talks over a renewal were seized by police as they gathered the information for the Barcagate case.

Those emails subsequently ended up in El Mundo on Wednesday.