PARIS: Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi received a hero’s welcome after arriving in the French capital on Tuesday to join Paris St Germain in a move that confirms the end of a career-long association with Barcelona.
The agreement to sign the 34-year-old Argentine is a major coup for wealthy PSG, who will add one of the best footballers of all time to an already formidable front line that includes Brazil’s Neymar and young Frenchman Kylian Mbappe.
Wearing a T-shirt that read “This is Paris,” Messi beamed and waved at scores of fans who had come to greet him at Le Bourget airport on the outskirts of the French capital after his flight from Barcelona.
Chanting “Messi, Messi, Messi,” the fans cheered and let off firecrackers.
Messi gave no details of the deal, which was reached days after Barca said they could not afford to keep the midfielder because of Spain’s La Liga’s fair play rules.
But his father and agent, Jorge, in a brief exchange with reporters at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, confirmed reports by French newspaper L’Equipe and Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo that Messi had reached an agreement with PSG, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investment.
At the same airport, Messi was later seen arriving with his wife and three children before boarding a private jet.
“With it all, toward a new adventure. The five together,” Antonela Roccuzzo said on Instagram alongside a photo with her husband on the plane.
L’Equipe said the deal would be for two years. It also said Messi would have medical tests on Tuesday, and that a news conference to mark his arrival was likely on Wednesday.
PSG did not comment on the reports but released a short video showing scenes of Paris, a plane landing and a close-up of someone putting pen to paper. In the background, upbeat music can heard and the words “new diamond in Paris” and “mercato update” appear.
The video, seen on Twitter, does not show Messi but depicts an image of six Ballons d’Ors — an annual award given to the player deemed the best in the world — by the Eiffel Tower.
Many Barcelona fans were distraught at the end of Messi’s glittering, trophy-laden career at the club he joined as a schoolboy.
But the arrival of Barcelona’s all-time record scorer with 682 goals will boost PSG’s ambitions to win the Champions League for the first time. Messi won four Champions League titles while at Barcelona, as well as 10 La Liga titles.
Messi is the latest big-name arrival at PSG on a free transfer this summer after coach Mauricio Pochettino’s side snapped up Spanish defender Sergio Ramos after he left Real Madrid. Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum also joined after running down his contract with Liverpool.
Italy’s Euro 2020-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has also joined after his contract with AC Milan ran out, while Moroccan fullback Achraf Hakimi joined from Inter Milan for a reported 60 million euros ($70 million).
Messi’s arrival gives PSG formidable attacking options as he links up with France World Cup winner Mbappe and Neymar.
“Back together,” Neymar posted on Instagram over a video of them hugging, playing for Barcelona.
PSG see Messi as the missing piece in their jigsaw as they chase the Champions League, the trophy they want more than anything else.
The arrival of Messi, whose last contract with Barcelona was worth a total of 555 million euros and reported to be the most lucrative in world sport, is also set to provoke a renewed new debate about UEFA’s financial fair play rules.
The rules were first introduced in 2009 to restrict some of the worst excesses of the game but have been criticised by some leading figures for being ineffective.
His arrival makes PSG even more obvious favourites to reclaim a the Ligue title they missed out on last season to Lille. Some in Ligue 1 have mixed feelings about the impending arrival of arguably the greatest player of all time.
“It’s extraordinary for Ligue 1,” said Metz coach Frederic Antonetti. “But for a purist like me, Messi should have finished his career at Barcelona.”
Messi could be unveiled to supporters on Saturday, when PSG host Strasbourg and a full house of nearly 48,000 will be allowed in for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck 18 months ago.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021