MADRID – Lionel Messi is traveling to France after agreeing to join Paris Saint-Germain, a person with knowledge of the negotiations has told The Associated Press on Tuesday, paving the way for one of the game’s greats to play for a new club after spending his entire career at Barcelona.
The 34-year-old Argentina star is set to agree a two-year contract with the option for a further season, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the contract ahead of it being signed and the official announcement.
Messi is set to earn around 35 million euros ($41 million) net annually, the person said.
Messi became the most desired free agent in soccer history after his Barcelona contract expired. The Catalan club had hoped to keep Messi, who agreed to a pay cut, but it still wouldn’t have complied with the Spanish league’s financial regulations.
PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino was in contact with his fellow Argentine as Barcelona announced last Thursday that Messi would be leaving the club he joined as a 13-year-old before winning every major trophy and a series of world player of the year titles.
Funded for a decade by Qatari sovereign wealth, PSG is one of the few clubs in the world that could finance the signing of Messi.
Aguero ruled out for 10 weeks
Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero has been ruled out of action for 10 weeks, the club said, deepening the Catalans’ troubles ahead of the new season following Lionel Messi’s shock departure.
Aguero, a close friend of Messi and his international team mate with Argentina, joined Barca as a free agent in June after 10 years with Manchester City.
Barca’s statement said Aguero, 33, had injured a tendon in his right calf muscle and would be out for around 10 weeks, meaning he will not make his debut until October 17 at the earliest, when they host Valencia in La Liga.
Aguero’s problem comes after a final season with City blighted by injuries, limiting him to only seven Premier League starts.
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman is now short of striking options for his team’s opening league game against Real Sociedad on Sunday, with Martin Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann and Memphis Depay his only available forwards.
Messi is reportedly finalising a move to Paris St Germain a day after his teary farewell from Barca, who could not afford to sign him to a new contract.
An FC Barcelona member has filed complaints with a French court and with the European Union Commission with the aim of blocking any move by Lionel Messi to Paris Saint Germain football club, according to documents seen by Reuters.
In the complaints, shared by the fan’s lawyer Juan Branco, the Barca member claims that French football authorities have failed to enforce their own financial fair play (FFP) rules in order to help PSG become a force in European football.
Barcelona, like its main La Liga rival Real Madrid, is fully owned by its subscription-paying members known as “socios”.
The FFP rules notably forbid top European football clubs to pay their playing squads an excessive share of their total revenues, according to the member’s complaints, which also state that the transfer of the 34-year-old Argentine star to PSG would breach the code.
PSG, France’s professional football league LFP and the EU Commission didn’t immediately reply to requests seeking comment.
Sam Boor, a senior manager in Deloitte’s sports business group, told Reuters in April that European football’s governing body UEFA has historically said a 70% wage-to-revenue ratio should be the upper limit for clubs to target. But he added that a number of large clubs may go past that figure and possibly even breach 100% in the short term.
Any transfer of Messi from Barcelona to Paris would constitute a distortion of competition with other national leagues, the complaints claim, and would be detrimental to FC Barcelona fans.
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