Longest-serving player leaves Paris
Marco Verratti’s departure from Paris Saint-Germain is official. On Wednesday evening, Al-Arabi SC announced the arrival of the 30-year-old central midfielder, who signed for three years, via video on social networks. In Qatar, the clubs are allowed to strengthen until September 18th. PSG is losing its longest-serving player in the squad; the Italian moved from his home country to the French star ensemble in 2012 for 12 million euros.
As transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reports, the 2021 European champions cost the Qatar Stars League club a transfer fee of 45 million euros, making Verratti the record entry in Qatar’s first league. Paris only recently made more money in its history with the sale of Neymar – the Brazilian moved to Saudi Arabia for 90 million euros.
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Since the start of the season, Verratti has no longer been part of the Paris team despite a contract until 2026 and recently canceled international matches with the Italian national team in order to sort out his sporting future. Like some other players that PSG has sorted out, this is in the Arab region.
This summer, before Verratti, the club already received 123 million euros in transfer fees for Neymar, Georginio Wijnaldum and ex-Dortmunder Abdou Diallo thanks to its good connections in the region. Julian Draxler was also linked to Al-Arabi. The club brought Rafinha from PSG in 2022, followed by Diallo in 2023 and now comes Verratti. As a result, the Parisians’ transfer income this summer will rise to 194 million euros – 158 of these million came from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Verratti, in whom FC Bayern, Chelsea and FC Barcelona Verratti are said to have shown interest, is leaving Paris after 416 games – 21 games more and he would have become the club’s record player.
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