The transfer which shook the footballing world this season was Lionel Messi’s move to Paris Saint-Germain for a reported salary of 41 million dollars including add ons. Messi who has been at FC Barcelona his whole life, made his move to Paris after being unable to sign a new contract with Barcelona. The Catalan club exceeded the salary cap limit and as a result, were not allowed by La Liga to register Messi.
PSG have had one of the best transfer windows in football history. Having already signed Ramos on a free transfer now they have added a huge coup in Lionel Messi. Add to it the signings of Wijnaldum, Donnaruma and Hakimi, PSG are all set for a huge season ahead.
Such is the huge financial contract of Messi that despite agreeing to a 50% wage cut, a new contract was not possible. PSG made a swift move to sign the Argentinian and offered him a huge salary. Messi signs for PSG on a 2-year contract with an option to extend for third. Reports have said that Messi will receive 30 million dollars signing bonus to add to his salary.
The money involved in such a contract is huge for a player, but when its Lionel Messi it seems worth it. Reportedly the player will also a get a share of player image rights which could make the contract go even higher. However, the amount spent on Messi can easily be recovered by PSG through the brand value of the player. It was said that the jersey of Messi was sold-out within minutes after having released on the club’s website. Such is the impact on the club, when you sign a player of Messi’s calibre.
Even at FC Barcelona, Messi had a lucrative contract and the amount kept on increasing as the years went by. The contract which Messi signed in 2017, had a value of over 650 million dollars including the annual salary of 161 milion dollars, signing bonus of 135 million dollars and a loyalty bonus of 91 million over the span of 4 years. There were also various add-ons included on sporting merit.
Given these huge figures of Messi’s contract along with the high salaries of other players, sooner or later the financial problems were going to arise and it did. After the Argentine’s contract expired in June, Messi became a free agent and could not be registered again.
If Messi manages to lead PSG to their first Champions League trophy, it will be considered money well spent. Although the total salary figure adds up to 75 million dollars, the impact that Messi will bring to PSG, both on and off the field is much bigger.
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