After a whirlwind few days Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player of all time has signed for Paris Saint Germain. Although there was no transfer fee involved PSG must have been the only club who could afford his wages. According to Spanish Football expert Guillem Balague, Messi was earning a gross salary of around £125 Million. Apparently Messi had been prepared to take half of that to help Barcelona's financial issues but the Catalan Giants rejected it. There were rumours Manchester City and Chelsea were interested in signing the Argentinian but no bids seem to have materialised. In another season perhaps a bid would have come from City but after spending £100 million on Jack Grealish and possibly another £150 million on Harry Kane even Sheikh Mansour's finances must be stretched. After 21 years at Barcelona Messi has signed a a 2 year contract worth a reported £1 million a week (with an option of a 3rd season). If Barcelona could no longer afford 50% of Messi's wages due to La Liga's financial fair play rules how are PSG allowed to pay his salary on top of Neymars, Mbappes, Hakimi's, Donnarumma's, Ramos's, Verratti's etc etc etc? Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, La Liga had imposed a rule that no club’s wage bill could exceed 70% of their turnover. Obviously this impacted Barcelona being able to keep their most prized asset and greatest ever player. According to L'Equipe (France's leading Sports Newspaper) Ligue 1 were to have a similar rule imposed but the introduction of that rule was postponed until the 23/24 season. Also in PSG's favour has been the relaxing of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations due to the pandemic. Therefore the cards have fallen nicely in to Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi's lap. That being said he has still done well to monitor the situation between Barcelona and Messi and be ready to strike quickly when a deal was ready to be made. Surely the introduction of the above rule for Ligue Clubs will impact the Parisian Club when introduced in a few seasons? By then though they may well have won the Champions League and numerous other titles.
Clearly everyone associated with PSG are in Dream Land. They already have a star studded squad but have now landed at least one of the two best current players in the world. (We’ll let the Ronaldo V Messi debate rage on). AT 34 Messi is past his best but he is still a sensational player. His signing is great for French Football in that it will generate a huge amount of interest from fans around the world. In a similar way to when David Beckham went to Real Madrid. In France alone people will be desperate to get to games so they can see one of the true footballing greats in the flesh. Can you imagine being a lifelong Clermont fan, being overjoyed that your small home town club has got to the highest tier of French Football in it's history then Lionel Messi runs out on to the pitch?!
It will also give PSG more pulling power in future transfer windows. Messi will obviously have been attracted by the wages and high chance of winning silverware at PSG, but seeing Neymar Jr make the same move a few years back must have helped in his decision making. The same will apply on a bigger scale now Messi has joined his ex Barcelona team mate in the French Capital. How many top players will think "If it's good enough for Messi it's a good enough for me." Despite the Argentinians astronomical wages this probably makes financial sense too. There have been several reports that shirts with his name and number on were sold out within half an hour of his signing being officially announced.
Messi's arrival in Paris could kill the competitiveness that made Ligue 1 so exciting last season. After seven titles in eight seasons PSG were pipped to the title by a Lille side driven by clever transfer policy, fantastic team ethic and attacking football. Lille only won the title by a point but it was the most competitive and exciting Ligue 1 season in years with Monaco and Lyon not far behind. With Lille losing their influential manager and director of football plus their financial issues it will be impossible for them to compete at such a high standard this season. Monaco are likely to be the team that pushes PSG the closest but they don't have a squad in the same league as the Parisians. Who does? With Messi added to the squad, the gap between Paris and the rest of the league is likely to be wider than it would have been anyway.
As a Marseille fan I don't really want Messi or PSG to succeed. How can anyone not be excited about watching a team that has front a three of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi though? It will be enthralling to see how they gel and they'll be many non PSG fans who'll watch games desperate to see the Parisians drop points. Some reports say that Messi could be included in the squad that plays at home to Strasbourg on Saturday evening. Others say it's more likely he'll play at Reims on the 29th August. Reims will surely be hoping for the former, they have enough issues as it is! We wait with baited breath to see him first play in Ligue 1.
Lionel Messi's trophy wins for Barcelona:
La Liga titles: 10.
Copa del Rey: 7.
Spanish Supercup: 7.
Uefa Champions League: 4.
Uefa Super Cup: 3.
Fifa Club World Cup: 3.
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