L’Équipe: Lionel Messi leaves Paris Saint-Germain and receives biggest offer ever in football | Foreign football

Rumors of Messi’s imminent departure have been circulating for some time. The Parisian public blames him for the elimination in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, because Messi would not play football with as much passion at PSG as he did at Argentina. He has also been booed by his own fans in recent times.

Messi caused a stir at his club when he left after Sunday’s home defeat against Lorient (1-3) took a family trip to Saudi Arabia, despite being banned from doing so earlier in the week. That was against the sore leg of the club management, who suspended him for two weeks, French media report. According to L’Equipe he is also not paid during that period. Messi will miss the next two league matches due to his suspension, Sunday against Troyes and a week later at home against AC Ajaccio. He could play again against Auxerre on May 21.

With a departure from Messi looking imminent, the big question is where his future lies. FC Barcelona wants to bring back its former star player, but the question is whether the financial possibilities are sufficient. That money is no problem for many clubs in Saudi Arabia, so that he could just follow the example of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Gulf state prepares the largest offer ever made to a football player L’Equipe. Messi could sign a long-term contract for an amount well above the salary of his eternal rival from Portugal. Reports trickled through last month that Al Hilal would have offered the transfer-free Messi an astronomical salary of 400 million euros a year.

That is considerably more than Ronaldo earns annually from his employer Al-Nassr. The Portuguese is under contract there for the next two and a half seasons and receives approximately 200 million euros per season. With that he is currently the highest paid athlete in the world.

A family trip to Saudi Arabia seems to herald the end of Messi at Paris Saint-Germain. French coach Christophe Galtier and his staff had initially promised the players that they would have Monday and Tuesday off if they beat Lorient. But because PSG lost, only one day off was granted, mainly to prevent departure abroad. However, Messi drew his own plan and got on the plane.

According to L’Equipe the staff was not happy with some images of players last week who gave the impression of being on vacation during the four allotted rest days. The French newspaper reported on Tuesday that some teammates were “shocked” by Messi’s absence.

Technical director Luis Campos and Galtier would have made it clear to Messi that the moment was inappropriate, because the league title has not yet been won for PSG. According to Messi himself, the trip could no longer be postponed because the hot summer in the Middle East is coming.

His visit was stipulated in his contract as tourism ambassador of Saudi Arabia. The absence of the player from the training complex of the Parisian club has, according to L’Equipe caused a lot of discussion, especially with some players who reacted with surprise. But also club owner Nasser al-Khelaïfi was not amused about the fact that his superstar was missing on Tuesday.

In the French Ligue 1, PSG retained the lead with 75 points despite their third loss in four home games. Due to a 2-1 victory against Auxerre, first pursuer Marseille approached five points and the Lens of former Vitesse attacker Loïs Openda, who scored, also came closer to the Paris team tonight.

Watch the summary of Paris Saint-Germain – Lorient below, including the blunder of former PSV goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo