Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will play in Saudi Arabia next season under a “huge” deal, a source close to the negotiations told AFP on Tuesday.
“Messi is a done deal. He will play in Saudi Arabia next season,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity and without naming the club. The contract is exceptional. It’s huge. We are just finalising some small details,” added the source, who is not authorised to speak to media.
Asked about the comments, Messi’s current club Paris Saint-Germain simply noted he remains under contract until June 30. A separate PSG source said: “If the club had wanted to renew his contract, it would have been done earlier.”
The 35-year-old World Cup winner was suspended by Qatari-owned PSG last week for an unauthorised trip to Saudi, where he is a tourism ambassador.
Messi’s expected arrival in the oil-rich kingdom follows in the footsteps of his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr in a massive deal in January.
Ronaldo’s agreement to June 2025 is said to total more than 400 million euros ($439-million), making him the world’s highest-paid athlete according to Forbes. Both deals are being bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds with more than $620-billion in assets, the source said.
“The negotiations didn’t take as much time as the ones with Ronaldo. As we now know the recipe to contract world-class players,” said the source.
“It’s Saudi Arabia that brought him not a specific club. The Money comes from one place — PIF.” Ronaldo’s arrival has not had the impact Al Nassr would have hoped for on the pitch.
They have lost top spot in the Saudi Pro League table and are out of the running in the King’s Cup and Super Cup. French coach Rudi Garcia departed in April. Messi, who turns 36 in June, has had two lacklustre seasons in Paris after a glorious era at Barcelona where he won four Champions League and 10 La Liga titles, and is still worshipped by the fans.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Nadia Nakai Speaks Up On why she didn’t join the Forbes to get AKA’s Awards
Nadia Nakai reveals why she didn’t join the Forbes family to pick up the late Kiernan AKA Forbes’ awards. On Saturday night, the late rapper who died on the 10th of February scored 4 wins at the Metro FM Music Awards 2023. As seen in videos, Kairo, Lynn and Tony Forbes were the only ones on stage to pick the four awards.
Nadia celebrated on her Twitter account which raised curiosity in the minds of her followers. Learn more
