Saudis Arrive In Paris To Close Lionel Messi Signing, Camp Accepts €1.2 Billion Offer: Reports

A Saudi delegation has arrived in Paris to try and close the signing of soon-to-be free agent Lionel Messi, according to Relief.

This weekend has seen several developments occur in relation to the 35-year-old, who will be released from his Paris Saint-Germain contract on June 30.

On Saturday morning, SPORT reported how Al-Hilal sources revealed to them that the Saudi club hopes to announce Messi’s capture on June 6.

Then, to ESPNMessi confirmed he would leave PSG ahead of the club officially announcing his departure in a statement.

Messi played his last game for the Qatari-backed giants in the evening, and was booed by pockets of the Parc des Princes crowd for missing a chance from close range in a shock 3-2 defeat to Clermont Foot.

Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi previously revealed that a decision on his son’s future would be made when the Ligue 1 campaign concluded, as it did yesterday.

In the same correspondence, the Argentine patriarch denied reports from The beach bar and the AFP that Messi had accepted a monstrous offer tabled by Al-Hilal.

With Messi’s 2022/2023 campaign bookended, though, Relief reports that a Saudi delegation has traveled to Paris on Sunday to close Messi’s transfer.

FC Barcelona remain Messi’s number once choice as per his next destination according to the Spanish outlet, but the Catalans are experiencing delays in La Liga approving their financial viability plan.

Meanwhile in France, Footmercato reports that the Messi clan has accepted a €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) offer from Al-Hilal for two seasons.

Figures that Messi is allegedly being offered have varied from €350 to 600 million ($375 to 642 million) a year in different reports. If accurate and accepted, he would dethrone Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes in its next edition.

In 2023Ronaldo’s January move to Al-Hilal’s bitter rivals Al-Nassr from Manchester United helped him finish in first place and pip Messi with earnings of $136 million compared to the Qatar 2022 winner’s $130 million.

Wherever he ends up, Messi is expected to make a decision on his future in the next 48 hours according to former SPORT and Relief journalist Toni Juanmarti.