Argentine superstar has completed his move to French outfit Paris Saint-Germain. Messi, who left FC Barcelona after 21 years, will sport the number 30 on his jersey while representing the Parisiens.
The 34-year-old became a free agent at the end of last season, but not many saw this move coming, as it was reported that he is likely to sign a contract extension with the Catalans.
However, with the Spanish giants struggling with their wage bill and also rejecting the cash injection proposed by CVC Capitals Partners, his departure from the La Liga club became imminent.
The race to sign Messi was not a long one, as Paris Saint-Germain were the favourites to acquire the signature of one of the more elegant players to have ever graced the game, ever since Barcelona announced they will be parting ways with Messi. They have now got the deal over the line, as Messi attended his first press conference as a Parisien player today.
“Everyone knows that my exit from Barcelona was very hard, but I’m very happy to come here and can’t wait to start training and join my team-mates. Really there are some amazing transfers here and the team is incredible. I’m going to be playing with the best players,”
said Messi, as quoted by Independent.
Messi also revealed that PSG started their work to sign him right after his departure from Barcelona was announced, as he said:
“They had positioned themselves from the first day, even though it wasn’t easy in these conditions. I want to thank the club for the work it’s done and the welcome I’ve had.”
Messi arrived in Spain in 2000 as a 13-year-old. Barcelona broke a predicament to sign him, as the Catalans didn’t sign young players from other nations at that time. However, his skills left the then first team director Charly Rexach spellbound, who was determined to sign the youngster.
Since then, it has been nothing short of a fairy tale. Messi has represented the Barcelona senior team 778 times, in which he has scored 672 goals. He has won four Champions League titles with Barcelona, and will now be aiming for his first with PSG, who are yet to be crowned the champions of Europe.
PSG will always follow FFP, claims Nasser Al-Khelaifi
While PSG fans are justifiably over the moon with this signing, many have questioned the financial aspect of the deal, with some reports claiming Messi’s salary to be €729,000 a week. However, the club president and CEO has said that his team will always follow the guidelines set up by UEFA’s Financial Fair Play.
“I was waiting for this question. For us we follow the FFP, we will always fulfil this. We talk to financial and legal people, you see we sign Lionel Messi that means we can sign him. He’s a big asset to the club in terms of commercial.,”
Al-Khelaifi said.
While the wages of the player might seem to be exorbitant for many, it is indeed very true that Messi brings in commercial value. PSG put up 150,000 jerseys with Messi’s name for sale on their website, and it took only seven minutes for the stocks to sell out.
