PETE JENSON: What next for Barcelona after Lionel Messi snubbed a return to Spain

Barcelona’s bid to sign Lionel Messi was the pantomime distraction from all the other ills at the club and now that he has decided to join Inter Milan, the focus has turned back to the refereeing scandal; a possible suspension from the Champions League; and the club’s struggle to bring down the wage bill.

Optimism about Barcelona’s ability to sign Messi mounted just as it became clear they had paid former referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira around £6.2 million over a 17-year period from 2001 while he was vice-chairman of the Referee Commission of Spanish football.

No evidence has been found that the money was used to buy referees and the most recent reports in Spain suggest that the investigation is now focusing on fraud (where the money ended up) and not match fixing. In Spain, too, the criminal case is likely to drag on for months or even years.

But what worries Barcelona more is whether or not UEFA will refuse to let them play in the Champions League next season.

A decision from Aleksander Ceferin is expected within 10 days. The president of UEFA must decide whether or not Articles 4.02 and 4.03 can be applied to ban Barcelona from European competition for a year for “activities aimed at determining or influencing the outcome of a match at national or international level ‘.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has a number of off-field issues to resolve in the coming weeks

The fact that the investigation in Spain is not going in that direction suggests not, but in an interview with Slovenian magazine Ekipa, Ceferin called the allegations leveled against Barcelona “exceptionally serious” and Barcelona must now await his ruling.

What the club really needs is to sign players, but they have the age-old problem of not being able to sell the players they have. The club has signed Inigo Martinez from Athletic Bilbao on a free transfer until 2025, but the left-wing centre-back has written into his contract that if Barcelona ultimately cannot sign him up for LaLiga, he could be loaned elsewhere for the same pre-agreed price. salary.

This agreement may need to be included in all contracts unless the wage bill is sufficiently reduced.

Barcelona are free to sign players, but as they have exceeded the team’s maximum spending limit, they must abide by La Liga’s 40 per cent rule.

The club was informed this week of their maximum team spend – a figure that will not be made public until the window closes in September to prevent clubs from being handicapped in the market.

But Barca are bigger than theirs, so to spend £3.5million on a player they need to free up £8.6million by getting someone to leave. Xavi wants Illay Gundogan, but the Manchester City midfielder wants £8.6 million net per season, so £21.5 million must first be earned back.

Ansu Fati and Jules Kounde earn around £12 million, but neither wants to leave the club. Midfielder Franck Kessie earns around £7.7 million but also wants to stay. Raphinha earns around £10.7 million but is adamant he’s not going anywhere.

One player who is still publicly digging in his heels, as others have done, is Andreas Christensen. His departure would free up around £7.7 million from the wage bill and the arrival of defender Martinez certainly means Barcelona can afford to lose him for everything he played so well last season, but there have been no bids so far.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin (right) will make a decision on Barcelona’s participation in next season’s Champions League

Barcelona would like high fees for Christensen and Kessie, despite arriving for nothing last summer. If they put in £30m each, they could spend 20 per cent of that fee on new recruits – the percentage is said to be different for sales than for saved wages, in LaLiga’s complicated Financial Fair Play rules.

But for now, no one wants to move. The players returned from a club trip to Japan on Wednesday and will not return until July 10.

They fly to the US on July 19 where they will play Juventus in San Jose, Arsenal in Los Angeles, Real Madrid in Dallas and Milan in Las Vegas.

When they return on August 2, there is still a month left of the transfer window and there is nothing to indicate that they will have their squad anywhere near next season.

Andreas Christensen – who joined from Chelsea last summer – could leave in the coming months

The club has been linked with Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi and Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich, but the former has a £51.5m release clause and the latter is valued at £69m and has two years left on his contract.

Part of the deal to bring Memphis Depay to Atletico Madrid last summer included a £16.3 million option on Yannick Carrasco, but again the money won’t be there if nobody leaves.

It’s going to be a long summer for the Barcelona coach, who won’t know exactly who the club can sign until well into pre-season and possibly after the start of the new season on August 12 – the very reality that tested Messi’s patience and made him decide to move to Miami instead of waiting and hoping that Barcelona will get their house in order.