Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) confirms that Lionel Messi has officially signed a two-year contract with the team, including the choice of an extension for a third year. The 34-year-old football champion has reportedly signed a deal of an annual net salary of 35 million euros ($41m).
Messi who had bid farewell to Barcelona last Sunday (8th August), a club he joined twenty-one years ago as a 13-year-old, had hinted to his fans that a move to PSG might be a possibility in his parting press conference. The player was departing in remorse, but with a legendary line of achievements from 35 trophies at camp Nou to 672 goals in 778 appearances, including four Champions League and ten La Liga trophies. It was reported that he had offered to cut his salary in half to renew another five-year contract with Barcelona, but with the club’s debt of 1.2 billion euros and the Spanish salary cap, it had not taken a conclusive position.
Now, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner was going to continue his career at Parc des Princes at PSG on a free transfer, with the number 30, with which he had started his football career. He was being welcomed grandly by the PSG fans who had been impatiently awaiting his arrival in Paris, his former teammate, Neymar Jr, who had posted a picture of himself and Messi hugging with the caption “Back Together”, and the PSG members and staff itself. As the club president, Nasser Al-Khelaif, said “I am delighted that Lionel Messi has chosen to join Paris Saint-Germain and we are proud to welcome him to Paris, with his family,”
PSG seems to be on its way to becoming a force to be reckoned with the head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, and a triple threat front formation with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and the new addition of Lionel Messi. The defense is held by Sergio Ramos and Georginio Wijnaldum while Italy’s Euro 2020-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, guarded the net for PSG.
