Lionel Messi may well leave Barcelona and head to any other football league in future, but La Liga wouldn't be too affected by that. La Liga is prepared for anything the future throws at it, asserted its president Javier Tebas.

During a virtual interaction with select Indian media, Tebas, citing the cases of Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo, said: "When Neymar left and went to France, I didn't see the (stature of) French league improve in the international market. Cristiano went to Juventus, but I haven't seen the Italian league's surge either in the international market.

"So the presence of these players is not a determining or decisive factor. We've been working for years so that La Liga is above clubs and players in all different aspects.

"Recently when Messi, in the midst of the crisis, said he was going to leave Barcelona, we renewed a very important contract in the world that could affect his area of influence.

"It's better to have these players, of course. But we know something can always happen and that's why we are prepared for everything."

But could the Barca-Messi row early in the season have been dealt with in a better way?

"...Don't know how many meetings Messi and Barca had during that period, but at the same time, we have to think that we're talking about human relationships here and people's character.

"We are not talking about machines, we are talking about people, their types and also their moods. If I knew the mood the then Barca president (Josep Maria Bartomeu) and Messi were in at that time, I could've said that I would be able to manage it in a different way.

"Nonetheless, it got managed as it was, but what matters is Messi's still playing and continues to be in Spanish football," Tebas said in response to a query from The Telegraph.

Barca's financial crisis is another concern, with a section of the Spanish media claiming players were yet to receive payments due in December despite agreeing to a temsaid in porary salary reduction at the club's behest. Tebas, though, feels not having a president since Bartomeu and his entire board resigned last October and elections getting delayed are making matters all the more difficult for Barca.

"Like other big clubs, Barca too has a way of paying. It doesn't pay monthly. What it does is make important payments in January and June. They don't just re-negotiate everything.

"So I don't think there are any non-payments as such. In general terms, Barca is more worried about the fact that it doesn't have a chairman at the moment. Elections have also been delayed.

"It's very important to have executives and a chairman to make economic and financial decisions because Barca, if it makes certain decisions, is a club that isn't going to have any problems," he explained.