Lionel Messi looks to have played his last game for Barcelona.

Despite everyone understandably assuming that Messi would renew his deal in Catalonia this summer, the Blaugrana announced on Thursday that their greatest ever player would be leaving.

The news has sent shockwaves through the footballing world with Messi having played every single club game of his professional career in the famous red and blue stripes of Barcelona.

Messi leaving Barcelona

But alas, it seems as though the Blaugrana have had their hand forced by La Liga and that financial restrictions have backed them into making a history-altering decision that nobody saw coming.

Now, it's question of where both the club and player move forward from here with rumours already abound that Messi is in talks to secure a gigantic move to Paris Saint-Germain.

However, before we all get carried with images of Messi taking to the Parc des Prince pitch, let's remind for a second and think about the series of events that led us to the craziest of scenarios.

BREAKING: Lionel Messi WILL LEAVE Barcelona (Football Terrace)

Barcelona's financial woes

While it's easy to shrug off the situation as being down to 'financial reasons', the economic spider's web at the heart of Barcelona's woes is far more complicated than Messi being too expensive.

There are a whole number of factors that have contributed to Barcelona not being able to afford their star player within La Liga regulations and many of them can be traced back over years and years.

Now, we don't profess to be financial experts here at GIVEMESPORT, but if there's anyone who knows football economics inside-out then you can bet that it's Twitter user @SwissRamble.

The revered-account has dropped a number of fascinating Twitter threads over the years about the monetary topics and issues at the heart of the world's biggest clubs and the sport as a whole.

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Damning Twitter thread

And Barcelona's current financial woes were at the heart of a gripping thread that @SwissRamble produced in late July, which they have now revisited on the back of the shocking Messi news.

Replying to their own thread, they re-advertised it as: "The “financial and structural obstacles” behind this evening’s announcement that Lionel Messi will not be staying at #FCBarcelona."

In other words, its analysis has arguably never been more relevant than now, breaking down the financial problems that have forced Barcelona into a Messi-less future that no one saw coming.

We couldn't possibly do the entire thread justice here, so be sure to check out the full breakdown once you're finished, but keep scrolling for some of the highlights and most important points below:

What a mess.

Worrying era for Barcelona

While the COVID-19 pandemic and Josep Maria Bartomeu's wild transfer spending have clearly contributed, it really goes to show that Barcelona's problems are far more deep-rooted than that.

Besides, everything indicates that Messi and Barcelona wanted to do everything in their power to secure a contract renewal, but that the financial difficulties were just so problematic to overcome.

And it really goes to show how the mishandling of club finances in the boardroom can have a huge impact on the football pitch with Barca seeing their most valuable asset slip through their fingers.

It's a crushing blow that will surely never be topped in club history but even then, make no mistake that Barcelona are nowhere near climbing out of the financial hole that they've dug for themselves.