After the triumphal era in Catalonia, the Argentine champion begins the new adventure Firma with Paris Saint Germain one hundred pages of contract but only today he will speak to the press
the character
He says it with a T-shirt: «Ici c’est Paris». This is Paris. And the one who speaks wearing it, appearing from a narrow balcony of the Le Borgeut airport, is called Leo Messi. In football at the time of social media, more and more “entertainment” than sport, that’s enough: 85 thousand people who follow the route of a private flight Barcelona-Paris on the internet and the Instagram of Paris-Saint Germain which marks 245 million followers.
It is not only the transfer of the strongest footballer in the world, but the founding act of the birth of the Psg version of the “Dream Team”: Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, Sergio Ramos, Donnarumma, Verratti, Di Maria, Marquinhos, Icardi and many others. All together passionately. The show, set up to get to the Champions promised and coveted by the Qatari property, has begun: appointment today, at 11 am in Paris, for the first words of Leo wearing another shirt that is not Blaugrana. Two days after the tears, a bit heartbroken and a bit crocodile, of the farewell to Barça: a love consummated in 778 games, 672 goals and 305 assists that yielded 10 Liga, 7 King’s Cups, 4 Champions League, 3 European Super Cups, 8 Spanish Super Cups and 3 Club World Cups.
Yesterday, with the landing in Paris and the announcement on Twitter (with an Argentine flag sticking out in the locker room between Mbappé’s and Neymar’s lockers), day zero was triggered by the new era. Almost everything was known about the trip of Messi, his wife Antonella and three children, followed by boarding in Barcelona up to the check-in of the ultra-luxury hotel Le Royal Monceau, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. A couple of photos, an appearance to greet the fans who came to welcome him from afar, the medical visits to the American hospital in Neuilly and the various entrances and exits from the hotel chosen as the first base of support in the Ville Lumière. Leo, on the other hand, will see clearly and will speak abundantly today: last night, by choice of the PSG, he was too busy to sign, countersign and reread with his lawyers the 100 pages of the contract employed by the sports jewel of the Al-Khelaifi family who it will earn him 40 million a season for the next two years, with an option for a third.
If Paris laughs, Barcelona pretends (unsuccessfully) not to cry. While the Pulce flew away, the giant picture of the Argentine was removed from the facade of the Camp Nou. And Neymar, mugged in the summer of 2017 at Barça by PSG in exchange for 222 million euros, put his finger in the sore on social media, posting a video of the vintage games on the Leo-Ney axis in the Blaugrana jersey. “Together again”, the Brazilian’s stab.
While waiting to understand what will happen with Mbappé, who cannot be transferred despite only one year on his contract and the mad desire to move to Real Madrid, PSG should also have managed to circumvent UEFA’s apparent financial fair play. In Paris, considering the sustainable investment, no sanctions of any kind are expected from Nyon. And even from Ligue 1, due to a moratorium of a couple of years on the salary cap inspired by the crisis dictated by the pandemic, there should be no reproaches. –