Argentina superstar Lionel Messi will play in Saudi Arabia next season under a ‘huge’ contract.
A source familiar with the development told the French news agency AFP, “The deal with Messi is done.” He will play in Saudi Arabia next season.’
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity but did not name any club. The source, who was not authorized to speak, added, ‘The deal is extraordinary. It’s huge. We are just finalizing some minor details.’
Messi’s current club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), when asked for a comment, replied that the footballer is under contract until June 30.
PSG sources say that if the club wanted to renew his contract, it would have already been done.
The 35-year-old World Cup winner was suspended by Qatari-owned PSG last week for an unauthorized visit to Saudi Arabia. Messi is the tourism ambassador of Saudi Arabia.
Messi’s arrival is expected to follow in the footsteps of arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom.
Ronaldo joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nasr in January.
According to Forbes, Ronaldo’s contract until June 2025 is worth more than 400 million euros ($439 million), making him the highest-paid player in the world.
Sources said both deals are being done by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world‘s largest sovereign wealth funds with assets worth more than $620 billion.
Sources said, ‘As we now know the formula for awarding contracts to world-class players, these negotiations did not take as much time as the negotiations with Ronaldo. Money came from the same place. PIF.’
The arrival of Ronaldo did not have the impact on the field that Al-Nasr had hoped for.
They have lost top spot in the Saudi Pro League table and are out of the running for the King’s Cup and Super Cup while French coach Rudy Garcia left in April.
Messi, who turns 36 in June, has had two poor seasons in Paris after a brilliant spell at Barcelona.
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He won four Champions Leagues and 10 La Liga titles at Barcelona and is still admired by fans.
A record seven-time World Player of the Year, he scored just 11 goals in his first season with an excellent attack featuring Kylian Mbappe and Neymar and was instrumental in helping PSG to the Ligue 1 title.
But PSG couldn’t come close to winning the Champions League for the first time, losing two of their last 16 matches.
Last week, black-clad PSG protesters shouted slogans targeting Messi, Neymar and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti.
Last week, black-clad PSG protesters shouted slogans targeting underperforming Messi, Neymar and Italian midfielder Verratti.
The angry scenes were a stark contrast to the scenes in December, when they beat France in Doha to send Argentina to the World Cup final.
The emir of Qatar wore him to the trophy ceremony in a traditional outfit that is a reminder of football and the wealth coming to Messi’s bank account through PSG.