Lionel Messi is all ready to affix his most in-demand signature on a new Paris Saint-Germain contract, one allegedly foreboding the likeliness of his career ending serendipitously at the club amid ongoing interest from other parties.
Messi joined hands with the Parisian club on an initial two-year contract in the summer of 2021 after a totally unexpected miserable exit from Barcelona due to the latter being unable to register a new contract for the playmaker due to their woeful financial situation. The debut campaign in Paris was difficult nut he has miraculously turned things around netting12 goals and providing 14 assists this term.
Most importantly he has spoken glowingly of the happiness that is now surrounding him and his family as they have adapted marvelously to life in France this season. Equally important of note is that the GOAT has been steadfast in his refusal to answer phone calls made on behalf of a negotiator close to Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who is apparently desperate to reunite the Argentine star with Camp Nou. Unfortunately his negotiating tactics have so far proven totally unsuccessful.
MLS club Inter Miami are also in pursuit of the Argentine, with a deal supposedly agreed upon at the end of the current season – yet Messi now looks set to remain firmly in Paris by choice and personal preference.
For now Messi, who will be 36 next summer, will pen a new deal at the Parc des Princes. Marca reports that this is likely to be a further year onto Messi’s current contract, extending his time at the club through to the summer of 2024.
Apparently PSG’s intention is for the Argentine superstar to be closely associated with their club and not to Barcelona, as Laporta has been hoping eagerly for, after having thrown the former Blaugranas talisman to the wolves in 2021. The Parc des Princes club believe that a third season could be key to establishing this and they would be most happy for him to retire elsewhere, as long as it is not at Barcelona.
Interestingly, the club are apparently of the persuasion that Messi will hang up his boots at a later stage in his career and not in European football, with MLS a likely future destination for him. Most fascinating of all is that PSG believe his career at the ‘top level’ will come to a glorious end at the Parc des Princes as they plan to ensure his eventual exit is targeted for Paris being the closing chapter of his career at the highest level, regardless of whether he continues to play either in the MLS or back in Argentina. They are already plotting how they can manage that exit process to further bolster PSG’s image.
Things have changed drastically for Messi since last year when he was not yet enamored of his tenure in Paris due to a conflagration of reasons, chief among which was the struggle to grasp the French language with his young family, who had all along been most contented with their life in Barcelona.
“I like Paris a lot more now, I have discovered the city and I find it magnificent,” Messi explained, in quotes carried by Le Parisien last month. “In the first year, there was a huge change. Things happened very suddenly, it was not my objective to leave Barcelona, and everything about it was very abrupt.
“After this long period and the difficult times, I am happy to live where I live, and my family and I are enjoying Paris. It was hard at the start, we had stayed all our lives in the same place, I had never moved, and I did not know what it was like to leave.
“We did not expect this, it happened very quickly, and we had to leave Barcelona overnight. We found ourselves in a new environment. We had our life in Barcelona, our friends, our habits, and we found ourselves in a different place, with another language, another football, another climate, I suffered a lot from that. It was hard. But, today, I enjoy everything including football.”