It’s the fallout no one saw coming. Barcelona and Messi seemed like a match made in football heaven, excuse my lame pun! While it remains to be seen if Messi will indeed leave the club he joined aged only 13, it got me wondering if anyone is really irreplaceable. As gifted as Messi is, a time will come when he’ll have to hang up his boots for good like Pelé and Maradona before him. Right now, everything revolves around him. Board members and senior executives are willing to quit just to appease him and at least one club is ready to meet his release clause, an eye-popping $825 million! But one of the world’s best players is 33 and could be a shadow of his former self in a year or two and no one will be scrambling to hold onto him as they will have discovered new talent. It’s kind of sad though, being revered and vilified almost in equal measure. On one hand, you have tearful fans camping outside Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home stadium begging Messi to stay, but there’re also those who think he has contributed to the club’s current crisis. The latter’s argument is that they’ve relied heavily on their star player for too long. While he has delivered again and again, there have also been times he just couldn’t save the day because one person can only do so much. We talk about the importance of teamwork all the time and football being a team sport, Messi’s performance is affected whenever his teammates don’t pull their weight. Guess that’s what you get for putting all your eggs in one basket. If someone drops or trips over it, they’re all gone. Messi has also been accused of acting like he’s bigger than the club, but I think that comes with the territory. If someone is outperforming the entire team, they deserve certain privileges so you can’t really fault Barcelona for trying to ensure their most prized possession gets whatever he wants. And let’s not pretend we wouldn’t want the same treatment if we excelled at our respective jobs! In defence of those who’ve hired high achievers who hit and exceed targets quarter after quarter, you’re not going to think about the times they will be too sick to come to work or when they’ll leave the company. You’re just happy to have someone who helps you meet your goals. That’s why few employers lay out elaborate succession plans, even though they probably should, because nobody holds a job forever or performs as highly as they started out for years on end!
