Following the £100 million signing of Jack Grealish to Manchester City earlier this week, it’s safe to say there have been a few surprising decisions in football recently. In fact, the sport was rocked even further when football legend Lionel Messi confirmed the rumours that he would be making a formal departure from Barcelona. The cash-strapped club were unable to keep their hands on the player after he became too expensive to sign, despite Messi offering to reduce his wages by a staggering 50%.
Born and raised in Argentina, Messi relocated to Barcelona at just 13 years old after he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency at aged 11 that was too expensive to treat. Amazingly, Barcelona noticed his aptitude and talent in football and agreed to pay for his medical treatment. After rising through the youth ranks, Messi landed a spot in the first team by the time he was 17 and was full international by the following year. It’s safe to say that the football legend has made a difficult decision to leave the club and hang up the Number 10 shirt over those aforementioned financial concerns.
Messi – who has been with Barcelona for 21 years – was set to extend with a five-year contract this summer, however the club’s monetary concerns put a stop to these plans and the 34-year old left as a free agent. Ever since the departure was confirmed, it’s thought that Messi has received dozens of offers from clubs looking to sign him, however we can finally confirm that he’ll be heading to Paris to complete a deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
With a two-year deal in the works and the option to extend for a further 12 months, Messi has pledged to ‘help build something special’ with PSG. The six-time Ballon d’or winner will be donning a Number 30 shirt on the pitch and is said to be earning a net €35m salary with bonuses factored in.
If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that we’ll be waiting eagerly to see the magic that Messi brings for the PSG club once the new football season gets underway.