Messi to consider £320m-a-year megadeal from Al-Hilal soon
Lionel Messi is prepared to wait until the end of the season before deciding his next step.
The Argentina captain has an offer from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia worth around £320million a year that has been on the table for over a month yet he is no rush to accept it.
Instead Messi is concentrating on the season’s finale with Paris Saint-Germain, despite his current two week suspension, and wants to end the campaign with the French league title.
Messi’s father Jorge has already informed PSG he does not wish to accept their offer for another year’s contract as he remains unconvinced about their sporting project.
Barcelona and Inter Miami hold strong interest but in Barca’s case they have yet to clear the financial hurdles necessary to bring their former idol back to the Camp Nou.
Messi, 35, visited Saudi Arabia with his wife Antonela and children Ciro and Mateo as part of his duties as a tourism ambassador for the country last week
PSG are also looking to offload Neymar in an effort to reconnect with their fanbase and recruit young French players.
They want a centre-back, holding midfielder, striker and two wingers this summer with Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise identified as one of them.
Spanish outlet El Chiringuito reported Messi could be joined at Al-Hilal by his former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets, who will accept a two-season deal, and potentially also Jordi Alba.
Messi is already a tourism ambassador for the country, paid £25m-a-year to do so, and it was an unauthorised visit to Riyadh last week that hastened his exit from the Parc des Princes.
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Messi, wife Antonela Roccuzzo and children Ciro and Mateo were photographed enjoying attractions in the capital Riyadh and Diriyah during their visit.
PSG’s players had a scheduled day off on the Monday but following their 3-1 defeat to Lorient the previous day, manager Christophe Galtier ordered them in for extra training.
Messi, however, was already in transit to Saudi Arabia a country where he could be playing his football next season – and wasn’t able to turn back.
On Friday, Messi apologised in a social media message to the club and his team-mates for missing the training session.
‘I thought we were going to have a day off after the game as always,’ Messi began in the 39-second clip shared onto his Instagram story.