Lionel Messi, the legendary Argentine footballer, is reportedly set to play in Saudi Arabia next season under an “exceptional” and “huge” deal, according to a source close to the negotiations who spoke to AFP on Tuesday. The source stated that the details of the contract are being finalized, and the agreement is imminent.
Paris Saint-Germain, Messi’s current club, responded to the news by noting that he remains under contract until June 30th. A separate source from PSG suggested that if the club wanted to renew Messi’s contract, it would have done so earlier.
Last week, PSG suspended the 35-year-old World Cup winner for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, where he is a tourism ambassador. It is expected that his arrival in the oil-rich kingdom will follow in the footsteps of his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr in a massive deal in January.
According to Forbes, Ronaldo’s deal with Al Nassr is worth more than 400 million euros ($439 million), making him the world’s highest-paid athlete. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, is reportedly bankrolling both deals, with assets totaling more than $620 billion.
The source close to the negotiations commented that the discussions with Messi did not take as long as the negotiations with Ronaldo. They also stated that it was Saudi Arabia that brought Messi to the country, not a specific club, and that the money comes from the PIF.
However, Ronaldo’s arrival has not had the impact that Al Nassr had hoped for on the pitch, as they have lost top spot in the Saudi Pro League table and are out of the running in the King’s Cup and Super Cup. In April, the French coach Rudi Garcia left the club.
Messi, who turns 36 in June, has had two lackluster seasons in Paris after a glorious era at Barcelona where he won four Champions League and 10 La Liga titles, and is still worshipped by the fans. He joined a formidable attack featuring Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, but scored only 11 goals in his first season, helping PSG win a routine Ligue 1 title.
Despite Messi’s star power, PSG has failed to achieve a coveted Champions League victory, bowing out twice in the last 16. Frustrations boiled over last week when PSG protesters let off flares and sang hostile chants targeting Messi, Neymar, and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti, who have all underperformed this season.
Messi’s career-crowning moment came in December when he led Argentina to a World Cup final victory over Mbappe and France in Doha to fill the biggest gap in his resume. Qatar’s emir draped him in a traditional bisht robe at the trophy ceremony, a reminder of the fossil-fuel riches pouring into football and Messi’s bank account via PSG.
However, Messi is also a highly-paid tourism ambassador for Qatar’s neighbors and sometime rivals Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, attempting to diversify its largely single-stream economy.
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