Messi ready to bid au revoir to Paris amid Saudi link

PARIS — Lionel Messi is set to leave Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expires at the end of the season after two years with the French club, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly comment on the Argentine great's status.

The source said Messi's departure was a mutual decision, with his contract effectively allowed to run down since January.

The news comes a day after PSG suspended the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner following his trip to Saudi Arabia without the club's permission.

Messi has a commercial contract with Saudi Arabia to promote tourism in the Middle Eastern country and has been linked with a lucrative move there at the end of the season.

There has also been talk of a return to Barcelona, where he spent the majority of his career, or to the United States to play in Major League Soccer.

Barring a late change of heart from him or PSG, this seems certain to be his final season in the French capital.

His suspension and news of his impending exit comes at a time when PSG is embroiled in an increasingly fraught French league title race.

Messi was supposed to be training alongside his teammates on Monday, but was instead in Saudi Arabia, holding a falcon on his arm, watching a palm-weaving demonstration and looking around the Arabian Horse Museum as part of his commercial contract with the kingdom to promote tourism there.

It was an expensive trip for the recent World Cup winner, who won't get paid or be allowed to train or play with the team during his suspension.

It looks like it will be a disappointing end to a turbulent and somewhat underwhelming two-season spell at a club where soap opera-style drama, on and off the field, is rarely far away given the presence of other superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the squad.

It also exposes the tensions now that Qatar and Saudi Arabia — gulf neighbors and fierce recent rivals in regional politics — have become major influencers in the world of soccer.

Messi is right in the middle of it all, through his own making and because everyone — inside and outside the game — wants a piece of one of the all-time greats.

The Argentina forward never intended to be playing for PSG, a club owned by Qatar Sports Investments, but found himself moving there in 2021 after previous team Barcelona, the soccer love of his life, plunged into financial problems that still persist.

Immediately, it thrust Messi into the hands of the Qataris, given QSI is a subsidiary of the emirate's sovereign wealth fund.

Messi placed himself in an even more delicate position last year when, just a few months before the World Cup in Qatar, he signed up to be essentially an ambassador for Saudi Arabia.

Hence this week's trip to the kingdom, which he decided to make without PSG's permission and covering a period when the squad had been asked to train in response to the team's 3-1 loss at home against Lorient on Sunday.

According to French daily L'Equipe, PSG coach Christophe Galtier had pledged to give his players Monday and Tuesday off if they beat Lorient. Instead, the team trained on Monday and had Tuesday off.

In the wake of Messi's resulting suspension, the Saudi Tourism Authority released a statement detailing the movements of the man it called a "football icon" and his family on a day he was supposed to still be in France.

Now the speculation is focused on the next stop in Messi's career. Reports have linked him to David Beckham-owned Inter Miami, a return to Barcelona, and a money-spinning move to a Saudi team, potentially Al-Hilal.

Playing for Al-Hilal could place him in direct confrontation with longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been at Saudi team Al-Nassr since the start of the year.

AP