I am watching the Barca game at the moment. In a quiet moment I wondered how much Barca value Messi.
According to Wikipedia his buy-out clause is €250M. More than most UK squads are valued at.
Extract
After winning the 2009 UEFA Super Cup, Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola asserted that Messi was probably the best player he had ever seen. This would also be the season in which Guardiola would first move Messi from the position of right winger into his now iconic "false-9" role in the centre of the front line at Barcelona. On 18 September, Messi signed a new contract with Barcelona, running until 2016 and with a buy-out clause of €250 million included, making Messi, then along with Zlatan Ibrahimović, the highest paid players in La Liga, with earnings of around €9.5 million yearly.
Whie I deplore the mega money in football these days, this chap is priceless, in my opinion. I also believe he will be recognised as the greatest ever.