Lionel Messi is trapped at Barcelona by financial fair play
FFP keeps Lionel Messi from participating in an open market.
I have spent a lot of time in columns stating that UEFA’s FFP rules are a violation of the club owner’s rights to run their organizations as they see fit from a financial standpoint. It is the ultimate form of egalitarianism, an anti-business ethos.
In the case of Lionel Messi, another gross injustice may occur.
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No club that he may wish to play for will likely be able to fit the cost of acquiring and paying him within FFP guidelines. One or more of these clubs may violate the regulations and risk sanctions in the process.
As an individual, Lionel Messi should have the right to engage in free trade within an open market for his services.
The idea of free trade is simple.
The football player trades his skills, talent, energy, time, body, effort, and name for the values he wishes to receive from the club, such as money, exposure, winning trophies, coaching, and a positive team environment.
The player and the team both have the right to negotiate this trade agreement freely so that both can get the most from a deal in a win-win situation.
Lionel Messi should have the right as an individual player to freely exchange what he has to offer with any club who also wishes to make an exchange of value for value freely.
Financial fair play restricts the ability of Lionel Messi to negotiate in a free and open market with any team that wishes to trade with him.
As a result, the number of teams that may wish to sign him is limited, and those teams will not be able to pay Messi what he deserves, not because they can’t afford to, but regulations forbid it.
This unjust scenario is a triple lose situation.
It is a loss for any club that wishes to sign Lionel Messi.
It is a loss for the Argentine great.
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It is a loss for football fans.