The football/futbol/soccer world was absolutely rocked to its core on Thursday when FC Barcelona announced that Lionel Messi will no longer be at the club. It was an absolute shocker, given that Messi and the Catalan club had reached agreement on a new, five year deal just three weeks prior.
Today we have learned that the 34-year-old Argentinian will give a farewell news conference on Sunday at noon CET (6 a.m. ET) at the Camp Nou. This will officially call time on what might just be the greatest club career of any individual footballer.
Yesterday, Paris Saint-Germain manager and fellow Argentine Mauricio Pochettino admitted at a press conference that his club is indeed pursuing Messi, and that is where, shall we say, the plot thickens. According to various reports, a move to the Ligue 1 juggernauts in the French capital is drawing closer.
We have not heard from Messi publicly since Barcelona club president Joan Laporta articulated the fiscal issues that obstructed them from completing Messi’s new deal.
“Leo wanted to stay, so he’s not happy,” Laporta said.
“We all wanted him to stay, but now, like us, he is facing the reality of what’s happened. A reality that can’t be changed.”
Meanwhile journalist Fabrizio Romano has an update on the situation below:
Paris Saint-Germain are close to sign Leo Messi, confirmed. PSG are preparing the official contract until June 2023 to be submitted to Messi and his father Jorge in the next hours ??? #Messi
Messi’s open to join PSG. Neymar was pushing in the last 24h. PSG are so, so confident. pic.twitter.com/WNRYJKCkjs
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 6, 2021
Meanwhile NBC Sports is reporting that Messi has reached agreement to join PSG, “after agreeing a two-year contract (reportedly with an option for a third) with the Ligue 1 giants. An announcement is expected at an event in Paris on Tuesday.”
ESPN FC meanwhile claim that PSG have offered him a three year contract, and that Les Parisiens “feel a deal is close after positive initial talks with Messi’s representatives.”
In other words, it’s a fluid situation, but one that is rapidly escalating/developing. PSG were having the best summer transfer window of any club in the world, even prior to this possibility.
Now, if/when the Messi deal is done, you could easily say that this session of transfer business would go down as the greatest by any club, ever.
In addition to Pochettino, Messi stands to be reunited with another fellow countryman, Angel Di Maria, with whom he won his first international trophy (Copa America) earlier this summer.
It would also be a reunion with his former teammate and close friend Neymar, and the idea of those two teaming up, along with Kylian Mbappe, well that’s the #1 team in the entire world, on every single preseason power rankings, hands down.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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