Argentine star Lionel Messi has joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), two days after he confirmed his exit from Barcelona.
The 34-year-old La Albiceleste skipper signed a two-year deal, the club said on Tuesday. Messi has an option of extending his deal with the French outfit. He will receive a £25m signing-on fee as part of the move.
“I am excited to begin a new chapter of my career at Paris Saint-Germain,” said Messi in a statement on the club’s website.
Messi will wear the number 30 as revealed in a video by the club, the number he had when he began his professional career at Barcelona between 2004-2006.
“Everything about the club matches my football ambitions,” Messi, who was given a hero’s welcome by the PSG fans when he arrived in the French capital, added.
“I know how talented the squad and the coaching staff are here. I am determined to help build something special for the club and the fans, and I am looking forward to stepping out onto the pitch at the Parc des Princes.”
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Warm welcome
Supporters gather outside Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, where Argentinian football player Lionel Messi will arrive, on August 10, 2021, as Paris Saint-Germain look to complete the 34-year-old signing following his departure from Barcelona, the club he has represented for the entirety of his 17-year professional career so far. Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP
Messi, who was a free agent after his shock departure from boyhood club Barcelona last week, landed at Le Bourget airport to the north of Paris on Tuesday afternoon.
There he was greeted by hundreds of PSG supporters who had gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of their new signing.
Those fans also gathered outside the club’s Parc des Princes home and near a plush hotel in the city where Messi along with wife Antonella and their three children are expected to be staying.
Messi waved to crowds while sporting a Paris t-shirt on his arrival at the airport before being taken for his medical.
“I am delighted that Lionel Messi has chosen to join Paris Saint-Germain and we are proud to welcome him and his family to Paris. He has made no secret of his desire to continue competing at the very highest level and winning trophies, and naturally our ambition as a club is to do the same,” Chairman and CEO of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, said.
“The addition of Leo to our world class squad continues a very strategic and successful transfer window for the club. Led by our outstanding coach and his staff, I look forward to the team making history together for our fans all around the world.”
Messi’s father Jorge, who is also his agent, had earlier confirmed the inevitable as he arrived at Barcelona’s El Prat airport to board a flight to France.
Asked by reporters if his son would sign for the French club, he replied: “Yes”.
The completion of his move closes a whirlwind few days following the announcement last Thursday that he would leave Barcelona, the club he has represented for the entirety of his 17-year professional career.
PSG’s move for Messi had been an open secret for days, although reports in Spain on Monday night talked of a “final offer” by Barcelona to try to keep the player.
Instead, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner will join a PSG attack already featuring Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
Qatar-backed PSG see Messi as the missing piece in their jigsaw as they chase the Champions League, the trophy they want more than anything else.
“Back together,” Neymar, who played with Messi at Barcelona before moving to PSG in 2017, posted on Twitter.
‘Coming to terms’
Barcelona are still coming to terms with the departure of their greatest ever player, who said goodbye to his club of two decades at a tearful news conference on Sunday.
Despite offering to cut his salary by half to seal a new five-year contract with the Catalans, the deal foundered on Spanish league salary cap rules.
Barcelona, carrying debts of 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion), are unable to register new signings because of their financial predicament.
With Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City having ruled themselves out, PSG were about the only club who could afford what is expected to be a deal worth 35 million euros ($41 million) a year.
He leaves Barcelona with 672 goals in 778 appearances, a record tally for one club.
Messi won 35 trophies at the Camp Nou after joining Barca aged 13, but his last appearance was a damp squib: a 2-1 home defeat behind closed doors against Celta Vigo in May.
His trophy haul includes four Champions Leagues and 10 La Liga titles.
“It will be difficult to see him in another shirt than that of Barca,” Messi’s old Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta, now playing in Japan, told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.
“As a player he just transcended everything. I’ve not seen a player like him — and I don’t think I ever will. You look at what he did and for so long…”
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.
However he is unlikely to make his debut until later this month at the earliest.
