According to a well-informed source that spoke on Radio Marca late on Wednesday evening, Lionel Messi is expected to turn down FC Barcelona’s offer and instead accept a lucrative $600 million deal from Saudi Arabia. FIFA-registered agent Marco Kirdermir, who has good relationships with the King of Saudi Arabia and Paris Saint Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, claims to know what Messi’s future holds. Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, reportedly informed PSG a month ago that they will not continue at the club when his contract ends on June 30. While there were reports that Messi would move to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia after spending a year at Barca, Kirdemir has stated that this is not true. According to Kirdemir, Messi is not going back to Barcelona anytime soon, but will only do so when he retires.
Kirdemir also revealed that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has been offered $600 million to join Al-Hilal, the King’s team. If Messi accepts the offer, he would immediately top Forbes’ rankings of the world’s highest-paid athletes in 2024. Currently, Messi finished second to Cristiano Ronaldo on the most recent list, earning $130 million compared to the Portuguese’s $136 million. Kirdemir claimed that Messi recently visited Saudi Arabia to meet the King and scout potential places to live, and if his family approves, he will play in Saudi Arabia.
Kirdemir suggested that PSG would not have suspended Messi for two weeks and docked his half a month’s pay if he had not travelled to a country that has issues with Qatar. He also noted that PSG is not pleased with Messi for heading to Saudi Arabia without the club’s permission to fulfil his duties as a tourism ambassador, and hundreds of fans insulted him and Neymar with offensive chants on Wednesday afternoon. The relationship between PSG and the Qatar 2022 winner appears to be irreparably broken. Kirdemir concluded that the Saudis are determined to create a strong league and attract the biggest stars to it as they bid for the 2030 World Cup. However, given that Barcelona is in debt and needs to shed €200 million ($221 million) from their wage bill, they may not be able to compete with these figures and may miss out on Messi’s return to Blaugrana. Sport has also reported that Messi will be offered a much lower €25 million ($27.6 million) per year by the Catalans.