Lionel Messi Makes Decision On Post-Paris Saint Germain Contract Future

Lionel Messi has made the first decision on his future after his current Paris Saint Germain contract expires, according to a report.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner becomes a free agent on June 30, with the two-year deal he signed upon leaving boyhood club FC Barcelona expiring in just over three months.

As is natural for one of the best players of all time, Messi has a plethora of options to explore as per his next step.

He could extend at Paris Saint Germain, with the Qatari-backed giants said to preparing an improved renewal offer, or return to the likes of Newell’s Old Boys or FC Barcelona which were his first two clubs as a youngster.

Another possible avenue sees him heading to Saudi Arabia where Al-Hilal are reportedly preparing a mouthwatering deal that would pay him $350 million a year.

If the news is accurate and Messi accepts a potential proposal, he would automatically be in line to top Forbes’ list of the world’s-highest paid soccer players.

Messi’s Paris Saint Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe did this in 2022, with Messi coming in second thanks to earnings of $120 million – $65 million of which came on-field and $55 million off it.

Mbappe took first place because of the $128 million – which was split into $110 million on-field and $18 millon off-field – he took home when signing a lucrative contract extension with PSG in the spring.

According to SPORT, however, Messi has already decided that he won’t continue his club career in the Middle East and will refuse to listen to any offers from the region amid fronting a tourism campaign for the Saudis.

The development will come as a blow to the Kingdom, which already boasts Messi’s generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Hilal’s rivals Al-Nassr while harboring hopes of hosting the 2030 World Cup.

At the same time El Nacional thinks Messi looks most likely to head to the MLS, SPORT sees him listening to what PSG have to say at the negotiating table and extending for another year.

Of the interested parties, it would seem to be a two-horse race between PSG and Inter Miami with FC Barcelona priced out of the competition for their all-time goalscorer and appearance maker’s signature.

The Blaugrana are mired in debts while being forced to shed €200 million ($214 million) from the wage bill. According to some corners of the Catalan media, it is only through offering Messi a paltry €200,000 ($214,000) a year and then up to €100 ($107 million) from his farewell match that they have any remote chance of seeing him don Blaugrana again.

Earlier this month, it was said that president Joan Laporta tabled this “final offer” to Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi, who has gone on record saying that any transfer buzz linking his son to Saudi Arabia is “fake news”.