Lionel Messi’s New Team: PSG Signs Superstar After Barcelona

The football world has now shifted once again as the football superstar Lionel Messi signed a two-year contract for Paris Saint-Germain after bidding farewell to Barcelona.

The 34-year old athlete was expected to renew his contract at Barcelona for a five-year term but instead arrived in Paris to complete his deal with Paris Saint-Germain.

Arrival in Paris

Messi arrived in Paris on August 10 to complete a medical and secure his transfer to the French club on a two-year deal – he also has an option to include another year for a worth of  £25m per year after tax, with additional bonuses.

As a part of the deal, Messi will receive a  £25m signing-on fee plus he will wear a No. 30 shirts for PSG, the same number he wore when he was debuting for Barcelona in 2003.

Messi was originally planning to extend his 21-year collaboration with Barcelona by signing a new five-year contract this summer, but the club stated that “financial and structural circumstances” indicated that the contract to not be realized. 

Upon his signing for PSG, Messi stated,  “I am excited to begin a new chapter of my career at Paris Saint-Germain. Everything about the club matches my football ambitions.”

“I know how talented the squad and the coaching staff are here. I am determined to help build something special for the club and the fans, and I am looking forward to stepping out onto the pitch at the Parc des Princes.”

An Emotional Farewell to Barca

Messi mentioned in his tear-jerking send-off announcement on August 8 that he didn’t want to leave Barcelona.

Messi was emotional as he received a standing ovation in his final press conference for Barcelona announcing his departure at the club after his 21-year long stay.

Barcelona confirmed his departure on August 12, the same day he came back to Catalonia after his Copa America vacation.

Messi goes to Barcelona expecting to settle his new five-year deal, and he confirmed he offered to scale down his wages by 50 percent.

The football star said, “This year, my family and I were convinced we were going to stay at home, that’s what we all wanted more than anything. We’d always made this our own, we were at home. We thought we would be staying here in Barcelona. But today, we have to say goodbye to all of this.”

Barcelona was crippled by La Liga’s rules on how the club spent that even reducing Messi’s salary in half wasn’t sufficient enough for the superstar to stay. Messi said that he did everything that he could to remain at the club.

PSG Is Now a Prestigious Club

According to Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports News, Paris Saint-Germain could now be considered as the most glamorous club in the world now that Lionel Messi joined the squad.

“In this new football ecosystem, what you need to thrive and be the biggest and the best is to be effectively owned and backed by a state – that’s what Man City and PSG have. Spanish football has big problems, Real Madrid and Barcelona have massive debts and now we’ve seen PSG say ‘we are going to be the club of the Galacticos.”

“I’m sure the people of Paris will love him and he’ll enjoy living and working in France. I just worry about some of the other clubs in France, but overall for the whole profile of French football, it raises it to another level.”

Final Words

Now that Messi is on the Paris side, he will reunite with his long-time friend and former mate in Barcelona, Neymar along with the young bbc football superstar, Kylian Mbappe. Messi gave his first press conference as a PSG footballer on August 11 at Parc des Princes.