Paris Saint-Germain clarifies its position on contracting Messi .. "Profitable in the long term"

A picture of Messi gathering with Paris Saint-Germain stars during his summer vacation. From the source

The management of the French football club Paris Saint-Germain expressed its confidence that the signing of Argentine star Lionel Messi will be profitable in the long run, and the management of the French club hopes to complete the deal within a week, according to the British news agency (PA Media).

And the Spanish club Barcelona announced yesterday evening, Thursday, the departure of the Argentine star from the “Camp Nou”, due to financial restrictions that prevent him from offering a new contract to Messi.

The Spanish League (La Liga) sets a salary limit for each club based on its financial situation, which was severely reduced last November due to financial losses related to the emerging Corona virus crisis, as Barcelona was among the affected clubs.

Paris Saint-Germain did not initially want to present an offer to the Argentine star when it was announced his departure from the club, but close sources confirmed that Messi contacted Mauricio Pochettino later on Thursday, which turned the scales.

The French club conducted a commercial analysis that showed that signing with Messi would be within the rules of financial fair play.

The personal contact between Messi and his compatriot Pochettino and the fact that the transfer would be free, were two decisive factors in the Paris Saint-Germain bidding for the player.

Paris Saint-Germain believes that signing Messi will increase the club's commercial revenues in Europe and South America if he joins him to play with his former teammate, Brazilian star Neymar.

The French club had contacted Barcelona earlier in the summer about Messi, but indicated that the opportunity to sign him was too late when the player confirmed his stay in Catalonia.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta refused to talk about Messi's next destination, after he was asked today, Friday, about his knowledge of Paris Saint-Germain's interest in his inclusion.

"It's up to him," Laporta said. "You have to ask him. I'm not going to answer that question."

He added, "I don't know anything about this, but it was always said that they (Paris Saint-Germain) had many options."

Laporta explained his position on Messi's departure, which was a great shock, in a press conference, where he stressed that keeping the six-time Ballon d'Or winner would have put the club at risk in the next fifty years.

And the Catalan club president revealed that Messi had made an offer for five years, in an attempt to stay within the spending limits.

He added, "We had been negotiating for two months, the agreement was ready to be signed for two years and his salary for five years, and then we moved to the stage of agreeing to a five-year contract, which Liu accepted."

Laporta admitted: "The negotiation with Messi is over, we cannot formalize the agreement, there is no margin for salaries and the La Liga is not flexible to raise the salary limit, and the march must continue."

He explained: "The club has a history that exceeds 100 years and is higher and more important than any player, even if he is the best in history, and we will be forever grateful to him."

Laporta blamed the club's previous management, which he believes caused Messi's departure.

Laporta returned to Barcelona's presidency last March, where he pledged to keep the Argentine star, who scored 672 goals in 778 games he played with the team in 17 years.

Laporta continued: "Who is to blame for this? I don't want to talk about bad decisions that were made in the past, but we had less than six months."

He added: "The situation was worse than we expected, we were going from bad to worse."

"I said that the negotiations were going well because I thought that La Liga would be more flexible about fair play and that Messi is acting in an exceptional way, that's why I said that things are fine," the Barcelona president explained.

"We couldn't move forward with it and we had to make a decision," he said.

Laporta revealed that Barcelona's salary budget had decreased from 110 percent to 95 percent, after Messi's departure was confirmed.

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