Messi 'accepts low salary' after being guaranteed by Barca
Leo Messi 'agrees to a low salary' after Barcelona assured the Argentinian he could return, via Sique Rodriguez.
Barca are expected to offer the 35-year-old a salary of around 10-13 million euros a year, which would put him third on the Blaugrana's list of top earners this season. At PSG, Messi earned a net 35 million euros.
Barcelona will also work to reduce the wages of other players and maybe even activate another economic lever to get some much needed income - which should help Messi's La Liga registration.
Earlier, it was reported that it was important for Leo to know his future destination before the season ended. If he cannot return to Barca, he will sign a new contract with the Parisian.
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Arsenal face a strong prospect when facing two European giants in the Champions League group stage next season.
Arsenal news:
Mikel Arteta's side are likely to face a series of deaths in the Champions League (Image:
RECEIVE)
Arsenal face the risk of death in the Champions League if the final weeks of the season don't go as they expected. Mikel Arteta will be sweating for results from across Europe over the next month.
Arsenal qualified for Europe's elite club competition for the first time since 2016. Despite losing to title rivals Manchester City on Wednesday, Brighton's defeat to Nottingham Forest means they can't get past the Gunners anymore. But Arsenal's failure to participate in the Champions League and not be able to go far in the Europa League could cost them dearly. UEFA decides the seeds for the Champions League draw based on UEFA's list of club coefficients as well as the performance of the previous season.
The 32 teams participating in the group stage will be divided into 4 groups of 8 teams. The first group includes the defending Champions League and Europa League champions, as well as the champions of Europe's top six leagues.
Another 24 teams will be ranked according to their positions in this stage of the coefficients list. It is designed to create groups as equal as possible.
Arsenal are currently in 23rd place. This means that if the top 22 teams all qualify for the Champions League, Arsenal will be in the third group.
That is not going to happen, however, and Arsenal will be hoping they can make it into group two. For that to happen, at least seven teams from the top 22 in the coefficient list must fail to qualify for next season's Champions League. Chelsea are definitely a team that won't make it through. Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany is also expected to be absent, while Liverpool and Tottenham are the outliers in England.
Thus, there are 4 teams that are superior to Arsenal in terms of the ranking coefficient but probably will not be able to attend the Champions League next season. That would, in theory, take Arsenal down to 19th in the table - now they need to find at least three more players.
Roma and Inter Milan are leading Arsenal in the rankings but their level is far from being confirmed. Roma are currently just outside the top four in Italy but are also in the Europa League semi-finals, giving Jose Mourinho two chances to qualify.
Inter are just behind Roma in sixth place but have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League so they can qualify that way too. Ideally, Arsenal would like Roma and Inter to finish outside the top four in Serie A and not win any of the European trophies they are in.
RB Leipzig is also above Arsenal in the coefficient rankings, but is fifth in Germany, one place out of the top four in the Bundesliga. Villarreal is also fifth in Spain, five points behind fourth-placed Real Sociedad. Arsenal hope it will stay the same.
Another key element of Arsenal's work is the composition of the first pot. Most of the teams that should have been in the first group ranked above ADC in the multiplier list.
But there are also a few possibilities that this will not happen. Bayer Leverkusen is 24th on the list but is in the Europa League semi-finals. Winning this competition automatically places them in the first group, and Arsenal would theoretically take another step back.
In the Netherlands, Feyenoord should win the Eredivisie. This is not good news for Arsenal, as the Dutch are behind in 34th place, so they will go straight into the group once again.
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