Lionel Messi’s stage in Paris is over. PSG has decided not to make use of the option that allowed them to extend the Argentine striker’s contract for another season, according to what the newspaper reported Tuesday night L’Equipe. The tension between Messi and PSG had increased in recent weeks. However, the end of the relationship between the French club and the former Barcelona striker came on Tuesday. After losing on Sunday against Lorient (1-3) in Ligue 1, the players of the Parisian entity had training on Monday morning and a day off on Tuesday. Messi decided to travel to Riyadh (about 6,000 kilometers from Paris) for a publicity commitment with Saudi Arabia, which also maintains tense relations with Qatar, PSG’s main shareholder. Messi did not have authorization to travel, so he has been sanctioned with two weeks in which he will not be able to play or train. Nor, of course, will he take his salary.
Before the World Cup in Qatar began, nobody anticipated this abrupt end between Messi and PSG. They did not expect him in Paris, nor in Rosario. In fact, they had already reached an agreement in principle for the striker to complete the year of the optional contract that they had agreed to in 2021. The offer did not change: the Argentine could continue in Paris as long as both parties agreed to respect the same conditions. conditions. PSG had already activated their part and Messi was missing to do the same with his. However, when Jorge Messi, the player’s father and agent, traveled to Paris to learn about the club’s new project, the relationship between PSG and Messi began to cool.
Messi began to feel how the club was destabilizing him. Despite scoring 20 goals and distributing 19 assists, a part of the PSG fans whistled at Rosario. Along the way, Barcelona appeared. The people closest to Joan Laporta tested the captain of the albiceleste with the possibility of returning to the Camp Nou. Xavi joined the illusion for the return of the Argentine. However, Barça have not yet presented any formal offer to the player’s family. Until now, the only possibility that Argentina’s 10 has on his table is to emigrate to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia in exchange for 400 million euros for one season. He also had the one from PSG, of course. But the offer fell through on Tuesday.
Messi finds himself in an unprecedented situation in his career. Without a clear and sanctioned future. He will miss at least the matches against Troyes (on Sunday) and Ajaccio (on the 13th). With a monthly salary estimated at around 3.37 million euros, the sanction will deprive him of approximately 1.7 million euros. This unprecedented penalty coincides with the serious sporting crisis that PSG is going through, which has plummeted since the end of the World Cup in Qatar, precisely the one that enthroned Messi.
The capital team was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Bayern Munich and has lost three of its last four games at home, limiting its advantage in the local championship over the second (Olympique de Marseille) to five points . The 35-year-old captain of the Argentine team ends his contract with the Parisians in June.
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