Lionel Messi’s future: Barcelona, Saudi Arabia or Miami?
Lionel Messi’s two-week suspension by Paris Saint-Germain after an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia has drawn a line in the sand between the 35-year-old and his club. It now appears very difficult for the Argentine to stay in Paris beyond this summer.
After months of drift in negotiations, it is expected that his contract will simply expire at the end of June. It will mark a passive conclusion after two years in the French capital.
Messi signed a two-year contract with PSG in 2021 and it included the option of a third year. Amid the uncertainty about whether he would renew, his camp alluded to waiting for more information about what PSG’s sporting project will look like next season.
It now appears that the sporting project has no place for Messi within it, and that conclusion has been brought forward abruptly by the events of this week.
So if not in Paris, where will Messi be playing football next season? Is a return to Barcelona, the club he served with such distinction until 2021, financially viable? Does Messi’s lucrative ambassadorial role with the Saudi tourist board suggest he will follow Cristiano Ronaldo and play club football in the Middle East? What about a long-mooted move to Inter Miami and Major League Soccer?
Here’s the state of play from The Athletic’s experts in Spain, France and the U.S. at the moment…
This is certainly Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s dream, and all the indications are that it seems to be Messi’s personal choice. However, there’s still a lot that has to happen until those feelings can become reality.
In fact, it feels reckless to even speculate about Lionel Messi’s potential return given Barcelona’s financial struggles. After all, the club has still yet to register new contracts for Gavi, Ronald Araujo, Alejandro Balde, Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto under La Liga’s salary rules.
But, while Messi’s signing seems like an impossible jigsaw at the Camp Nou right now, none of that will dissuade many at Barcelona from believing a deal can eventually happen.
La Liga is expected to demand Barcelona cut their salary bill by about €200million (£176m; $221m) for the 2023-24 season. At the moment, the Catalans are surpassing the limit the Spanish league set for them to spend on salaries. Like other clubs in similar situations, Barcelona needed to file a financial viability plan to lay out the steps they are going to follow to balance their accounts for the following two seasons.
Two weeks ago, Barcelona did just that. They also informed La Liga how they will operate in the summer transfer window. There are no clear details about what this plan entails but multiple sources at Barcelona, who have been granted anonymity to protect their jobs, have confirmed that La Liga president Javier Tebas has been told about the club’s intention to try and resign Messi. And Barcelona will not want to wait around until the last days of the summer window to know whether they have got their man.
How a club can reduce their salary bill by €200m while signing one of the highest-earners in world football, however, is another matter.
The coaching staff, led by manager Xavi, are pushing to have a ‘last dance’ from Messi at the club. They feel the Argentine star would provide exactly what his team lack, particularly making a difference in the final third, where 20-year-old Pedri seems to hold too much responsibility for the team’s success.
In the dressing room, opinions are divided. While an important part of the current squad is relishing the chance to be in a team with Messi again, there are also some sectors that are more reluctant about the prospect of a reunion.
Messi’s camp, who have been approached for comment, conceded weeks ago that a return to Barcelona can only be conceived from a romantic perspective rather than a realistic one for now.
But again, this is Barcelona. Anything could happen.
Pol Ballus and Laia Cervello Herrero
Move to Saudi Arabia?
The numbers are frightening: Messi could command as much as €400m (About $443m) per year to play out his career in Saudi Arabia.
But when another year at PSG was still a possibility, playing in the Saudi Pro League — ranked as the 58th highest-quality league in the world, according to sports intelligence agency Twenty First Group — was not Messi’s most appealing option. He wanted to stay in Europe and keep performing at the top level ahead of the next Copa America in the US in 2024.
That might have changed now, though.
The lack of projects to choose from in Europe is the main reason we are unlikely to see Messi in the Champions League again next season. With PSG dismissed as a potential option, it is only Barcelona who are admitting a legitimate interest in him — and we have already covered how uncertain that option is.
The sponsorship deal Saudi Arabia signed with Messi to promote international tourism does not automatically mean he will want to play his club football there, of course, and he is not the only player a league that is striving to make an impact will be targeting. After Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in January, the Saudi league identified players such as Neymar Jr, Pepe and Luka Modric as potential incomings to try to follow him.
Pol Ballus
Join Inter Miami?
With Messi’s time at PSG seemingly coming to an end, David Beckham’s Inter Miami at least have one less competitor in their long-standing pursuit of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
In MLS circles, Messi joining Miami one day has long been regarded as something of an open secret. The club, though, still hope that ‘one day’ is this summer.
Miami have been pushing for that outcome for a long time, with meetings that have continued over the winter. Jorge and Jose Mas — the brothers who co-own Inter Miami alongside Beckham — led the negotiations and numerous meetings have taken place with Messi’s father, Jorge.
Messi has a home in Miami and regularly spends time off in South Florida. Miami also have the roster space (or “designated player spot”, in MLS parlance) ready for Messi and could even make further space to add a player like Sergio Busquets.
MLS commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic in March it will likely take a creative deal to make it happen but that the league and Inter Miami are willing to be flexible to find the right compensation package in order to land Messi.
The ball, in many ways, is in Messi’s court here.
Tom Bogert
Stay at PSG?
Messi’s stay in Paris is set to come to an end.
After his World Cup triumph with Argentina in December in Doha, the idea of him leaving a Qatar-owned club in PSG felt far-fetched. An agreement to extend his stay in Paris seemed like a natural conclusion. In France, PSG were unbeaten in the league and Messi was at the heart of things, kicking on after a slow first campaign at his new club.
But since then, the mood has changed significantly. PSG’s performances have nose-dived, with nine defeats this calendar year alone, and elimination by Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16.
Messi was not at fault for this individually but he was a symptom of poor squad building that left the club ill-equipped to fight on all fronts. The club’s post-World Cup malaise, in the context of Messi’s triumph, did not help.
For the player, this period of his career will have been bruising and that is now topped off by this club sanction. Fan sentiment had been turning on him and his name has been whistled at the Parc des Princes before matches. The feelings among supporters in Paris have centred on suggestions he has not been as invested as he was during his time at Barcelona; a point only reinforced by the team’s turgid form since the turn of the year. The repeated rumours about a possible return to the Catalan club have only stoked that fire too.
Now that he has been made an example of in Paris, it seems improbable that relationships can be rebuilt. For the player, staying in Paris no longer looks comfortable.
PSG want to focus on building around Kylian Mbappe and take advantage of the large pool of talent that exists within the French game. It means an end to their emphasis on ‘bling’ and big names (and a big wage bill), and that also means a willingness to decouple from Messi.
Peter Rutzler
(Top photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)
