10th August, 2021
Football superstar, Lionel Messi has agreed to sign a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after leaving Barcelona.
The deal is worth £25m per year after tax, plus bonuses.
PSG and Messi will have the option of extending his stay in the French capital by a third year.
Messi will also receive a £25m signing-on fee, Sky Sports reports.
“It’s all been confirmed. Lionel Messi is going to be a PSG player,” Balague said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“That’s it, it’s done. It’s happened in the last few minutes”.
Sports paper L’Equipe said the Argentine superstar was due to arrive in Paris in the coming hours.
Messi, the 34-year-old record goalscorer for both Argentina and Barcelona, is one of the greatest players of all time.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, wept on Sunday as he bade farewell to his boyhood team.
This was after the club said it could no longer afford to keep him, blaming La Liga’s fair play rules.
The PSG frontline is already formidable, with Messi’s former Barca team mate Neymar and young France striker Kylian Mbappe.
But the arrival of Messi will boost the club’s ambitions to win a first ever Champions League.
The arrival of Messi, who has 245 million followers on Instagram and is Barcelona’s most decorated player of all time, is also welcome news for France’s Ligue 1, embroiled in a crisis over TV rights.
The Argentine captain saw his 21 year-stay at Barca ended as the club said it could no longer afford him.
He was Barca’s all-time record goalscorer with 682 goals.