DBasia.news – Lionel Messi was in the spotlight in the transfer market last summer after moving from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). La Pulga is now sharing his story about the process behind it.
As is known, Messi’s contract with Barcelona expires at the end of the 2020-2021 season. But the Blaugrana are confident that they can defend the megastar.
Messi is also willing to stay longer at Camp Nou after Joan Laporta was re-elected as club president. The 34-year-old player had intended to leave a year earlier.
But the financial crisis that hit Barcelona has made Messi’s contract extension challenging to realize. El Barca has been hindered by LaLiga regulations regarding a club’s salary burden.
Barcelona had tried various ways to extend Messi’s contract. But the Catalan club gave up a week before the 2021-2022 LaLiga began.
A few days later, Messi was inaugurated as PSG’s new recruit. The French giants have won the competition with a number of other big clubs that wanted to sign him for free.
“Barca issued a statement saying that I would not continue my career there. From then on I started to wonder how I would get back on my feet,” Messi told France Football.
“I had to find a new club to continue my career and was lucky to be contacted by several clubs including PSG. I thank the club because from the start they treated me well.”
PSG is indeed one of the few clubs that can afford Messi’s salary. He even immediately won the status as the highest paid player at the Parc des Princes.
The offer of a high salary is certainly one of the reasons Messi accepted PSG’s proposal. Moreover, he will meet again with Neymar, who is his best friend at Barcelona.
“They showed that they really wanted me and took care of me. I received another offer, but we reached an agreement with PSG quite quickly,” he added.
“Knowing that I have friends in the locker room allowed me to tell myself that things would be easy for me to adjust to.”
So far, Messi has played five times for PSG in all competitions. But he’s unable to talk much as he had only scored one goal.