Maria Laura Avignolo
08/06/2021 18:35
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 08/06/2021 18:35
After the surprise and the psychodrama in Barcelona, the all-powerful Paris Saint-Germain began to work seriously to seize the services of Lionel Messi.
They assure in France that the Argentine has already given the green light for the negotiations to begin.
He is still in a state of shock, as
Clarín was
able to find out
, because he was convinced that he would continue in the club all his life.
Little by little he is digesting the news and changing the chip.
And the idea of playing next season for the Parque de los Príncipes team began to settle for him.
His contract has not yet been signed, but the portals of the French newspapers, on Friday afternoon, have the same title:
"Messi said yes to PSG
.
"
It is not known if it will be a matter of hours or in the days to come: after Barcelona's rudeness, La Pulga chose beautiful Paris as its destination.
And they even speculate that the Eiffel Tower, on August 10, is the scene of the presentation.
Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino with a wide smile, acknowledged that "a player of that caliber is always interesting."
Ángel Di María, Leandro Paredes and Sergio Ramos, they say, are exulting.
Neymar is happy.
Inseparable friends can meet again in Paris and recreate the best days of Barcelona, on the playing field and in life.
A rumor, a hairdressing gossip, was finally translated into absolute truth on Friday morning when the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, affirmed that there was no return in the Messi case and that his days at the Catalan club were over.
They have no more money and LaLiga prevents all types of agreements.
PSG, led by its Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, has decided to make every effort to get the best player in the world to land in France.
Messi, Neymar, Paredes, Di María and Verratti, together in Ibiza.
How is Messi?
From his surroundings they assure that he is still hit by the news.
I did not expect to live this moment.
Nor did his teammates expect him, who just on Friday afternoon, with Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets at the helm, began to fire him on social networks.
They assure that Leo has not yet planned to go out to speak, that he owes a deep talk with his father and that they have not yet talked about the future.
They choose caution.
In France they believe that the future has already arrived.
Messi and Barcelona had verbally agreed to a five-year contract and a significant pay cut.
He was going to earn half of what he was earning until June 30, when his last contract expired.
But Barça's colossal losses in times of pandemic and anemia of sporting results left almost no room for maneuver for Laporta.
They assure that before sending the statement that paralyzed the world on Thursday, the president of the Catalan club asked for one more wink, an additional effort and to reduce his salary to 30%.
It was rejected.
Nor would it have been enough to fit into the LaLiga regulations.
The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, gave a press conference to explain the reasons why Lionel Messi will not renew for the Barça team.
Photo: EFE / Alejandro García
Powerful wallets
Only three clubs have enough money in their safes to buy the most famous and most expensive player in the world: Manchester City, Chelsea and, of course, PSG.
From Manchester, P
ep Guardiola, Messi's coach and old mentor, was the first surprised.
"We were convinced that Leo would stay at Barça," he said.
A surprise that would not change City's plans as the Catalan coach quickly closed the doors of the Etihad Stadium:
"In the immediate future, we are not thinking about Messi."
In the early hours of Friday it was learned that Chelsea, led by Russian magnate Román Abramovich, would have asked the people who manage Messi for a meeting to try to seduce the captain of the Argentine National Team. This situation occurred in the middle of the London club's negotiations with Inter for the services of Belgian Romelu Lukaku, which seemed to be on track just when the bomb linked to Messi exploded in Barcelona.
"The idea is to move forward with Lukaku and at the same time listen to Messi's claims," they
said. Cold.
At PSG, on the other hand, the race to get the services of the best in the world began.
Not a minor fact: the dressing room wants to have it yes or yes.
They are excited and happy about the possible arrival of Messi.
On the same Thursday night, when the fans were mourning his departure in Barcelona, there was an emergency meeting in Paris: the owner of the club, Al-Khelaifi, the sports secretary, the Brazilian Leonardo, and the CEO, Jean Claude Blanc, began to discuss the possibilities.
Mauricio Pochettino, Leonardo and Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Photo: AFP
Al Khelaifi is convinced that Messi should play for his club.
He already dreams of the new galactic trident, together with Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.
You are already thinking of a “PSG for export”, a brand even more global than it is and with the dream of achieving the Champions League within reach.
Qatari petrodollars
Until now the only concern of PSG had been to extend Mbappe's contract and not to go to Real Madrid.
There was even talk of the possibility of getting rid of the young French wonder now so as not to get out of the financial corset.
But it would not be necessary.
The Financial Fair Play imposed by UEFA is not in force in France in the wake of the pandemic, as restrictions on movement and isolation extended for so long made it impossible for the clubs' natural income.
The club already paid very high salaries to Neymar, Marquinhos, Di María, Paredes, Mbappé, Keylor Navas and Marco Verratti. In this market he added other heavy salaries: Sergio Ramos -the number 1 fan when it comes to asking Messi-, Achraf Hakimi, Georginio Wijnaldum and Gianluigi Donnarumma. Now he has at his fingertips a player who earned 70 million dollars a year at Barcelona. In France they must add high social charges. Taxes are very high, including for Messi, although not as high as in Spain. Will Messi accept a contract similar to the one he was going to sign in Barcelona? It would be, in principle, for two seasons.
Behind PSG is Qatar
, the fourth largest producer of gas in the world and also of oil.
And organizer of the next World Cup, which is plagued by accusations of corruption and complaints of slave labor to finish the works on time.
The arrival of Messi would transform the project, it will illuminate it with talent and not just money.
Pure football.
Neymar, Angel Di Maríaa and Kylian Mbappé.
Photo: AFP
A happy locker room
At PSG everyone participates in the decisions in front of the market, starting with Pochettino.
According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, Pochettino and Messi, who share soccer origins in Newell's Old Boys but are not friends, spoke by phone Thursday night.
The coach denied it in the press conference he offered before the game this Saturday against Troyes, for the first date of Ligue 1. But he had a more mischievous smile than usual.
"We know what happened yesterday, I will not say otherwise," Pochettino whispered when asked about the possible arrival of his compatriot in Paris.
"As I said before, we are focused on the start of the season," he excused himself.
But he immediately opened a window.
“The club is working in parallel in the transfer window, in a discreet but forceful way, to improve the team and achieve the objectives.
The important thing is to beat Troyes to start the season well.
We trust Leonardo and the president to improve the team.
For any club, this opportunity can present itself, "said the Murphy, Santa Fe-born, dressed in a pink sports outfit.
-And Messi can come ”-asked the journalists.
-When we talk about players of their caliber, for any club, PSG like the others, such an opportunity can be presented to them.
In this case, the club is working, as I said.
If we have other information, we will communicate it.
As in all cases, we are analyzing all the possibilities, and this is one of them.
When we talk about the transfer window, it is obvious that anything can happen.
Mauricio Pochettino, the PSG coach.
Photo: AFP
A star life
At PSG everything is ready to welcome the stars and their families.
A team takes care of finding a house, drivers, guards, school for the boys, translators, maids, chefs if necessary.
Visas, work permits are not a problem.
Messi's soccer friends live between Yvelines and Neuilly sur Seine, in large mansions in the Paris suburbs, not far from the club.
A large, safe and discreet house will be essential.
A bilingual school, the other requirement.
Messi's sons know Neymar's and Di María's daughters.
They share a vacation.
They will surely get acquainted with those from Icardi, who also live in Neuilly.
For the Messi family, Paris will be more hospitable and pleasant than Manchester and its permanent rain and cold.
The Frenchman will not be a problem for Messi: in the PSG dressing room everyone speaks Spanish and drinks mate, thanks to Di María, who even taught the props.
Paris.
Correspondent.
