Barcelona could not afford to keep Lionel Messi but Paris Saint-Germain have made their move for the 34-year-old and, while the cost of the deal may be astronomical, it is still likely to be a very smart bit of business if or when it goes through.
Barca — swimming in debt of 1.2 billion euros — ultimately found themselves in a no-win situation with their talisman.Even letting him go leaves that figure at 95 percent with the Catalan club a prime example of how living beyond one’s means eventually ends in the tears Messi shed Sunday in confirming his departure, Barca unable to defy financial gravity any longer.
Qatari-owned PSG, who bought Messi’s close friend Neymar from Barcelona for 222 million euros in 2017, can afford the Argentinian wizard, who they see as the final piece in the jigsaw to land a first Champions League crown.Messi, who had agreed to a 50 percent wage cut with Barcelona and a five-year deal taking him to the age of 39, is reputedly being offered some 40 million euros a year over two seasons in Paris with the possibility of a third.
“We’re on another planet here — it’s stratospheric” with Messi, says sports marketing analyst Virgile Caillet, adding a putative arrival at the Parc des Princes would constitute “an event such as only once or twice in football — with Maradona when he signed for Napoli or Zidane going to Real.”PSG have essentially taken over the Real Madrid mantle of the home for “galacticos” — megastars whose global status lifts their clubs to another level.
“Messi is a cast-iron guarantee. From the moment you recruit him you have a number of additional revenue streams which flow almost automatically: derivative merchandise, ticketing, partnerships. It’s an unmissable opportunity.”
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