PSG announce Messi U-turn after dramatic announcement

Tom Weber

• Updated: 1 Jun 2023 17:05 BST
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain have rubbished their coach's claims that Lionel Messi will play his final game for the club on Saturday.

PSG head coach Christophe Galtier announced at the pre-match press conference that Saturday's game against Clermont Foot will be "Lionel Messi’s last match at the Parc des Princes." This confirmed what had been common knowledge for months: the Argentine won't renew his expiring contract with the French giants.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has a lucrative offer from Saudi side Al-Hilal on the table that, if accepted, would see him earn north of €1 billion over two years. His father and agent Jorge is allegedly pushing for the 35-year-old to make the move to Saudi Arabia.

The player, however, is said to be keen to stay in Europe and return to Barcelona. The club's dire economic situation is a major roadblock to that endeavour, though. Yesterday reports out of Spain claimed that Messi had given Barcelona a 10-day deadline to confirm to him whether or not a deal would be financially viable.

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Everyone expects Messi to depart the Parc des Princes this summer, but PSG have now publicly rejected Galtier's claims in what could be a dramatic U-turn.

The last game this season

A statement by the club made to AFP rubbished the remarks that Messi would leave. "Christophe Galtier misspoke when he said that the match against Clermont would be Messi's last at the Parc [des Princes] with PSG." It would, the club said, merely be his final game with them this season.

However, that does not mean that Messi will definitely stay with PSG beyond the summer. This is merely a PR exercise, according to French media.

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"An internal source," writes Le Parisien, "also told AFP in early May that 'if the club had wanted to renew his contract, it would have been done earlier'" before announcing, "according to our information, this backpedalling of the club absolutely does not call into question the fate of Messi."