Rumors: PSG offer £800,000-a-week contract to Lionel Messi

Messi on the back of a Manchester City home shirt with the Paris Saint-Germain club badge. (Photo by Visionhaus)
Messi on the back of a Manchester City home shirt with the Paris Saint-Germain club badge. (Photo by Visionhaus)

With the contract of Lionel Messi with Barcelona officially coming to an end in five months, many news outlets and pundits have been speculating where the Argentine’s future lies. He has already been linked with a number of clubs but only one of them have openly spoken about the speculations. This club is, of course, Paris Saint-Germain, and the latest reports suggest that the French giants are willing to pay the legend a contract which will see him make 800,000 pounds a week.

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Ever since the six-time Ballon d’Or winner announced that he wanted to leave the club in August, there have been a lot of speculations as to which club could actually afford him. The media first linked the player with Manchester City as Lionel Messi had frequently praised his former coach Pep Guardiola and the Spanish mastermind also wanted to reunite with his best player.

Any move was, however, blocked by the Spanish side as they informed the player that he had lost his window of opportunity to move out and if anyone wanted to buy him, they would have to pay his 700 million euros release clause. Now the situation is very different. The player is free to leave in June and the club does not have the required funds to keep him on his same wage.

Messi’s leaked contract revealed that he was making 555 million euros in five years and that is something the Catalans just cannot afford. A specialist calculated and realized that the club would have to cut the Argentine’s wages by 40% in order to keep him but Messi is in the last few years of his contract and would thus be looking for a more secure contract.

According to the Daily Star via Sportsmole, the French club is doing exactly that. The club which is practically owned by the nation of Qatar is looking to offer Messi 800,000 pounds per week, a figure that Barcelona cannot match. Should the club legend choose to leave his boyhood club, PSG is starting to look like the likely destination for him.

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