Barcelona president Joan Laporta said: "I'm here to explain the situation we have reached in the negotiations with Leo Messi. First of all I would like to say that the inheritance we have received is dreadful.
"The salary level is 110% of the total income of the club. We don't have any margin in terms of salary. The rules and regulations of the Spanish La Liga is regulated by a financial fair play. We don't have any margin.
"We knew that when we got to the club, but I have to say, when we got to the club, the numbers that were presented to us are a lot worse than initially exposed. and those that we were working with.
"That means that the losses are a lot more elevated than what we had expected. What we are spending is a lot more than we expected and the current contracts means we have this salary mass of great magnitude. This is all tied to fair play and it means we couldn't fit in the first contract we had agreed to with Leo Messi."