According to Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague, Paris St. Germain will continue to be Lionel Messi’s chosen club for the upcoming season but must persuade him that they can remain competitive at the pinnacle of European football.
The 35-year-old Argentine forward’s contract expires this summer, but he is adamant about playing in top-tier European football and is currently negotiating to stay in Paris for an additional year.
Since leaving the Nou Camp two summers ago, the Barca icon has scored 29 goals in 64 appearances for PSG. He feels he can still fight for the top prizes and has ruled out a return to his old team Newell’s Old Boys.
Messi was a member of the PSG team that lost to Bayern Munich on Wednesday night in the Champions League round of 16, and the World Cup winner hopes to have another genuine opportunity to win the competition for the fifth time the following year.
When PSG is eliminated from the Champions League, is it time to abandon the endeavor?
According to Balague, conversations are still ongoing between PSG director Luis Campos and Lionel Messi’s father and agency, Jorge Messi.
We are currently having discussions, Campos said. “I can’t hide the fact that I want to keep him on this project. If he went on, I’d be thrilled. We are currently talking about how to accomplish our objective while still including him.”
Balague also thinks that PSG’s budget would be restricted for the upcoming campaign in order to adhere to Financial Fair Play regulations, endangering the caliber of their team.
Yet Campos is certain that any difficulties can be overcome. He stated to The Parisien: “With the limitations of the budget, we attempted to be inventive. Respect for Uefa and Fifa is required. But we’re prepared.
“We have a good plan in place, which entails lowering the number of professionals in the team to provide room for the club’s talented young players and prevent them from defecting to other top European clubs.”
Balague continued “The general agreement for Messi must now be formalized in paper and in great detail, including salary and duration of the deal. He is paying attention and would go on if the circumstances were proper.
“I anticipate there will be demands, chief among them being that PSG continue to be a competitive team.
“Things that could effect that are Kylian Mbappe leaving, Qatar losing interest in the club, financial constraints forcing PSG to sell players, or PSG not being able to raise the necessary funds to keep Messi,” the statement continued.
After helping Argentina win the World Cup in December, Messi is the favorite to take home the Ballon d’Or, which will be awarded in October. At PSG this season, he has 18 goals in 30 games. Messi has scored 30 goals and provided 20 assists in 36 appearances this season for club and country.
According to Balague, he would be competing for his eighth Ballon d’Or, three more than any other player, and it is one of his factors.
As they are eight points ahead of second-placed Marseille, he has a good chance of winning his second Ligue 1 championship with the team.
Notwithstanding rumors, Balague asserts that it is completely impossible for him to attend Newell’s Old Boys this summer.
“He wants to keep playing professional football. He hasn’t considered visiting Newell’s this summer, and there isn’t any chance it will happen in the future.
Although Messi’s camp claims Inter Miami of Major League Soccer has not yet made an official offer, Inter sources are certain they have made all effort to secure Messi’s services and will now wait for his choice.
Messi departed Barcelona in 2021 because they could not afford to keep him due to financial difficulties.
He won 35 trophies with Barcelona, the club he joined at the age of 13, and scored a record 672 goals in 778 games for them.
Balague declared “Recently, Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, had a brief meeting with Jorge Messi to talk about potential future tributes.
“For now, there is absolutely no offer [from Barcelona] on the table for him. Nobody anticipates a comeback.
La Liga would be opposed to selling another portion of the team to pay for any Messi move, as their first objective is to pay off Barcelona’s 200 million euro debt.
