International

PSG confirm Lionel Messi departure

You are currently viewing PSG confirm Lionel Messi departure

Paris Saint-Germain have officially confirmed that star Lionel Messi will leave the club after their final match of the season.

“After two seasons in the capital, Leo Messi’s adventure with Paris Saint-Germain will come to a conclusion at the end of the 2022-23 season,” the club said in a widely expected announcement.

The 35-year-old started for PSG against Clermont at the Parc des Princes. When the teams were announced, fans booed his name.

The Argentinian was brought in from Barcelona two years ago to help PSG win the Champions League, but he didn’t do that.

Last year, Real Madrid beat the French team in the last 16 of the Champions League. This year, Bayern Munich did the same thing.

Messi has won the Ballon d’Or seven times, and his annual salary at Qatar-backed PSG is estimated to be 30 million euros ($32.1 million) after taxes.

In December, he led Argentina to win the World Cup final against France in Qatar.

But after working hard to help his country win a long-awaited game, he couldn’t help PSG beat Bayern in the Champions League.

Before Saturday’s final game, Messi had already been booed by some fans at the Parc des Princes, even though he had scored 32 goals in 74 games for PSG.

His relationship with the team got worse when he skipped training earlier this season to go to Saudi Arabia without permission to fulfil his duties as a tourism ambassador for the Gulf state.

After that, Messi was suspended for a week, and there was no chance that he would sign a new deal in Paris.

Barcelona, where he has played for most of his career, would love for him to come back, but that seems less likely these days.

Instead, his next stop might be Saudi Arabia.

Last month, a source with knowledge of the Saudi talks told AFP that it was “done deal” that he would play in the Saudi league. However, Messi’s father Jorge denied at the time that his son had decided where he would go next.

Reportedly, Inter Miami has also made an offer to bring him to Major League Soccer.

Photo by EPA/TERESA SUAREZ