What is clear is that Leo has left behind the boy who went on stage on his twentieth birthday, to play instruments and cheer on the public, so that the cumbia group that was playing would carry on. Incidentally, it was the same band that composed ‘El pibe de oro’ (‘The Golden Boy’) in homage to the Argentinian.
Not only did he leave that period behind, but he was learning to protect himself. And he had to do so swiftly, because that confusing summer of 2013 brought with it serious accusations of fiscal fraud, a complex situation in which the Messis are claiming protection from civil laws which supposedly approve what the tax advisers suggested to them.
When his problems with the taxman surfaced, two situations occurred which reflect the state of our society. On the one hand, a high percentage of Spanish and international (mainly sporting) press decided that he was guilty until proven innocent, and, on the other hand, the news reached non-footballing corners, too.
Nothing quite justifies the innocence with which Leo’s family followed the financial and tax advice they were given, but it goes without saying that everything should be put into context.
In 2013, the Agencia Tributaria instructed inspectors to take action against celebrities they believed to be tax-dodging, and thus acquired valuable media coverage. And so the chef Sergi Arola, the heiress Liliana Godia and Leo Messi came under scrutiny and were accused of suspected tax breaches. The objective was to boost the authorities’ damaged image; they had been accused of being too lenient with famous people. They tried to make an example of Leo, and the others accused, in a period of financial crisis in which people judged this type of behaviour as reprehensible.
‘They did it to me in ’79,’ explains Johan Cruyff to La Vanguardia newspaper. ‘When you are a public personality, they use celebrities so that people are scared. And Messi is one of them. I can’t imagine Leo is responsible because he knows as much about the tax office as I do, which is zero. Therefore, it is the people around him who manage these things. The press and government use him to say “look who we’ve caught”. They do it to set an example. They also did it to me and I had to wait nine years before they said I was innocent.’
In football, as in all other professions, everyone looks for a way to pay less tax, and the management of image rights is the official method for clubs and footballers to save costs. Elite players, who are in the highest tax bracket, prefer their clubs to convert part of their salaries into image rights, which are then paid to a company set up by the player. The tax liability is lower. That way, taxes are ‘avoided’ rather than evaded.
In Leo’s case, his contract assigns 85 per cent of the money as salary, and the remaining 15 per cent to image rights, which is what Spanish law allows. In general, Barcelona have never wanted to implicate themselves in any business related to his image. According to the club it is a permanent source of conflict since players are usually not very willing to give up part of the money earned for commercial deals. Real Madrid see it differently: they keep 50 per cent of player earnings in this regard. Barcelona demand a percentage of the player’s image rights and Leo can do what he wants with the rest.
Going back to the accusations of fraud, the idea of lying to the taxman may seem incomprehensible to northern European, Anglo-Saxon sensibilities, but it seems to be an inherent part of Latin culture, which grew up with reading classics such as El lazarillo de Tormes or Quevedo’s El Buscón. In Spain or Argentina, tax evasion is not as widely frowned upon as in other countries, perhaps because of the lack of confidence in the authorities and the bad example they set, especially in recent years, where corruption cases against political and corporate bodies seem to be multiplying. In other words, ‘If they do it, why should I or my cousin or neighbour not do it?’
Of course nobody is blameless: in England in 2010, dozens of British footballers received letters from the Inland Revenue notifying them that an investigation into tax evasion was being opened. The person who does not attempt it is rare indeed, and the Messis have been hunted.
What does fraud consist of? Footballers are obliged to pay tax from their wages in the country in which they play, but taxes on image rights are paid in the country in which the company that holds them is based. It is common for there to be an almost systematic ‘externalisation’ from the countries where the tax liability is very high. In other words, the money is declared in countries with much lower tax rates. That capital detour can be fraudulent or not. When ghost companies which do not exist are created in the receiving country, we can then speak of fraud.
Leo and his father are not financial experts. Messi has never dealt with such things; he does not even know how much he has in the bank. His father put the matter into the hands of Rodolfo Schinocca, the family adviser for the last decade, who tried to keep Messi’s image rights. Schinocca promised easy money and the Messis fell for it. Then Schinocca ended up creating a system whereby he would keep most of the money. When the Messi family realised this, Schinocca and Leo’s parents filed complaints against each other – the lawsuit against the Messis was thrown out by the Argentine Supreme Court, while the one against Schinocca continues.
When the Spanish tax authorities started investigating players with companies overseas, Messi’s name was on the list. Leo and Jorge were accused of evading paying tax on more than €4 million relating to image rights between 2007 and 2009. The prosecutor denounced Jorge Messi and Schinocca for creating a web of shell companies with headquarters in tax havens (mainly Belize and Uruguay). Contracts with Danone, Adidas, PepsiCo and Telefónica were invoiced from those countries. Furthermore, it was stated that ‘the initiative to defraud came from Jorge Messi’ and that in 2006 ‘Leo Messi ratified his father’s fraudulent initiative through a public deed conferred before a notary’.
On 4 September 2013, the Messis handed over €5 million (€4.1 million plus interest) to the court in Gavá to resolve the debt and try to reduce their legal liabilities. Jorge accepted full responsibility for the creation of the web before a judge, which should have led to the lawsuit against the player being dismissed as he was not aware of the crime. In the document presented by Messi’s father, not only does he exonerate his son, but he accuses his ex-partner Schinocca of deception, accepts responsibility for a lack of control over his financial advisers and expresses his willingness to collaborate with the law.
Messi concurrently presented supplementary income statements from 2010 and 2011, and an additional €10 million, which resolved the issue relating to those years.
Jorge and Leo declared in the court in Gavá on 27 September. Leo was shaking like a jelly while testifying. Jorge blamed himself. ‘My son does not know how the money is generated,’ he explained.
The day after, Leo got injured. A small tear in his right hamstring, his perennial Achilles heel, sidelined him for three weeks. Such things almost never happen by chance.
In July he said in a press conference that he was starting the upcoming season ‘relaxed, my father is dealing with the matter with the lawyers and advisers, and we trust them as they are the ones who must solve it. I don’t understand anything about it.’ He promised not to speak any more about the matter. But the case made the Messis feel that the club’s support was somewhat lacking: president Sandro Rosell took a whole day to call Jorge when the matter became public knowledge, and other directors privately criticised the way in which the Messis managed Leo’s fortune; but nobody offered to help the family clear the matter up.
‘Provided that it is legal, we will do everything Messi asks us,’ explained Rosell a few weeks later. ‘We will help him in any way we can. If he carries on as number one, of course his wages will go up. Because every year he demonstrates that he deserves more and more. For me he is the best player in the club’s history and also in football. But it is clear that we will not give him the money to pay for this affair [with the tax authorities].’
What Barcelona did do was support the Leo Messi Foundation from the beginning, an idea which, according to Jorge Mess
i in Sique Rodríguez’s Educados para ganar, came up ‘after Messi visited a hospital for the terminally ill in the United States’.
Cristina Cubero was present that day. ‘We went to a Boston hospital for children with cancer. We were in a room, a mother arrived and said to him: “I’m Argentine, my daughter wants to meet you.” And the girl came, bloated, bald … he was told that the girl was terminally ill. I was already outside, and Messi left in tears, he saw me and hugged me, he clung onto me for four minutes. Crying like a baby. He always tells me that it was as a result of what he saw there that he started to collaborate with bodies battling cancer.’
Leo’s father tells in Rodríguez’s book how the footballer himself told them that ‘part of his earnings had to be reinvested into society. Our foundation works for children who have all sorts of problems. From health problems to social exclusion problems.’
It is not the Rosario-born Messi’s only demonstration of social awareness: he is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador; he has assigned his name to a Rosario company so that they can manufacture children’s products, sales of which engender a percentage for the Messi Foundation, which will then invest the funds in social projects.
He donated some $790,000 to refurbish a ward at the Rosario Children’s Hospital, while the Foundation also has various agreements with Catalan hospitals: he has collaborated with the Can Ruti reform, he has invested in the department for children with oncological problems at the Sant Joan de Déu health centre. He also finances training for Argentinian doctors and awards research grants.
Furthermore, he collaborates with Sarmiento, a football club based in the neighbourhood in which he was born. ‘We don’t manage the club, we have some players at Boca, River, Newell’s, Central,’ says Jorge Messi in the magazine Kicker. ‘It’s a wasteland at the moment, but it is going to be expanded; better dressing rooms and all-weather pitches will be put in.’
And some funds have been given to Newell’s Old Boys. The club where he plans to end his playing career.
4. The Arrival of Neymar
In the FIFA Club World Cup final when Neymar’s Santos met Barcelona, the Brazilian star told Leo Messi that he would like to play with the blaugrana club. ‘Messi told him that he would be very happy at Barcelona,’ says Sandro Rosell. In fact, by that final in 2011 the Brazilian had already agreed to join the blaugranas.
From that moment onwards plans for his arrival were underway: ‘No one can match Messi,’ said the Brazilian, with a nod to Leo rather than to Barcelona.
Before arriving in his new city, Neymar was known for his goals (172 since his debut in 2009), his explosive speed down the left flank or as a mediapunta, for his unbelievable dribbles, and for having led Brazil to victory against an all-conquering Spanish side in the final of the Confederations Cup.
Influenced by indoor football, his style of play was very Brazilian, played with a smile, with a great variety of technical options. But he had above all the soul of a winner and a hunger to win titles: he won the Copa Libertadores in 2011, three consecutive São Paolo regional championships, the Brazilian cup of 2010 and with his country, the Under 20 South American championship.
His story is a familiar one: discovered by Santos at the age of 12, he suffered the abuse of parents of other children because of his style of play. Some of the Santos directors did not want to invest in his future, firstly because they regarded him as being almost as small as a table football player and, secondly, because of the jealousy he provoked.
He made his debut with the first team at the age of 17 and opened his scoring account in his third match. Despite his good season in the year of the South African World Cup, and despite media pressure, national team boss Dunga chose not to pick him. He made his debut for Brazil with the next coach, Mano Menezes, in August 2010, scoring against the United States. It was the beginning of his leadership of the canarinha.
In the early years, interviews with him gave up precious little information. Neymar was shy and monosyllabic, albeit with a beaming smile. He is ‘simple and humble,’ says his team-mate Dani Alvés. Since then he has matured, controlling his behaviour on the pitch which at times smacked of insolence. In Brazil he had a reputation for diving too often, a result of his desire to be one of the protagonists, but he changed his attitude when he arrived at Barcelona.
He has charisma, and, media-wise, is very high-profile. The public love him – they copy his ever-changing hairstyles. And he is addicted to social networks. He earns €22 million a year. His father, who played for clubs in lower divisions, is his agent and carefully controls his image, his money and his diary, especially regular visits to the church. His girlfriend Bruna Marquezine is an actress in Brazilian soaps, and he has a son, David Lucca, who was born in August 2011 from a previous relationship.
The perfect boy for the football fans landed on to the scene.
The world of sponsorship is wide open to Neymar. In May 2013, according to the rankings of the American sports magazine SportsPro, Messi and Neymar had the highest commercial value and Cristiano was eighth. ‘There is no doubt that Messi is the best player in the world, but we also know that he is not particularly charismatic off the pitch, nor does he look so happy or confident in front of the cameras,’ confirmed David Cushnan, the chief editor of SportsPro.
The rise of Neymar began just after the biggest statement ever made by the Messi worshippers: the day of the match against Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou when numerous fans, on their way to the stadium, decided to turn around and go home instead when they discovered that Messi wasn’t playing. It was a semi-final of the Champions League.
Perhaps for that reason, Neymar’s arrival at Barcelona was greeted with mixed feelings in the Catalan press. Sport asked if it was a good idea to bring in another ‘cockerel’: ‘His media presence is disproportionate to what he brings onto the pitch and the resentment is alarming: Neymar, because of his price, salary and treatment by the club, has come here to be one of the leading players in the squad. What position in the hierarchy will Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc hold now? Barcelona will find it difficult to justify the fact that Neymar earns more than him[Messi].’
According to Barcelona, who said they had paid €57 million for their new star, Neymar was being paid seven million, with a bonus of one million for reaching certain objectives. But during the summer another interpretation of the deal surfaced: some €40 million in commission was payable to Neymar’s father over a period of five years, the same length of time as his son’s contract. If you add this to the wage of the player, it makes him, at €15 million, the highest paid player in the squad, even ahead of Leo at that point.
His arrival therefore destabilised the team, and it was no coincidence that all manner of problems suddenly started to arise. Víctor Valdés announced his imminent departure, David Villa was transferred to Atlético de Madrid and Bayern bought Thiago. The representatives of Cesc Fàbregas, who had gone down a notch in the hierarchy and was still earning €4 million a year net, made contact with the new manager at Manchester United, who were looking to sign him. Andrés Iniesta’s agent asked for a new contract.
Barcelona tried to calm the storm created by the arrival of Neymar by initiating talks for a new contract with Messi, just six months after the signing of the last one. Including his fixed salary and bonuses, Leo could earn more than €20 million a year net.
All this gave the impression that the club had decided to control the market by buying the best player available (perhaps to support or substitute their star, perhaps to prevent a rival from signing him, as Madrid tried to do right up to the eleventh hour), without thinking about the consequences. Or even whether it was appropriate.
After the departure of Guardiola and Tito Vilanova, after losing their European crown to Bayern, Barcelona were at a crossroads and needed to reinvent themselves somehow. There were debates about the methods, the ideology, the values, because the Barcelonista found himself in an undefined space, without leadership coming from the bench.
> And then, while doubts continued, the club decided to demonstrate its power by signing Neymar. Johan Cruyff predicted a storm with the arrival of the Brazilian. ‘Two captains on the same ship? We should learn from the past,’ he advised, remembering perhaps the time when Maradona and Bernd Schuster were unable to work together. And he gave president Rosell, his arch-enemy, a piece of advice. ‘With Neymar signed, I would have taken on board the possibility of selling Messi, and that is something that some people would have been for and others against.’
It wasn’t a conflict such as the Ronaldinho−Eto’o one that Cruyff was analysing, when the whole world knew that the Brazilian was number one; more a Lewis Hamilton−Fernando Alonso situation when both parties were fighting for the same crown.
Juan Laporta also expressed doubts: ‘He has a lot of talent. And I like the way he has behaved since his arrival, giving support to the team and to Leo. If I put myself in his [Messi’s] place, I would not like the fact that one way or another they are looking to dethrone me.’
In the boardroom, some directors wondered how things would go if Neymar passed the whole season stuck on the left wing. ‘Neymar was a priority for us, we need him,’ says Tito Vilanova who remembered that, during the year of the treble, the forwards were Messi, Eto’o and Henry, and it worked well. Tito, who finally accepted that the team needed new talent upfront, was not unduly worried about the matter because as he often said, Messi was the least demanding of the football geniuses and not difficult to keep happy.
Messi Page 68