Lionel Messi has received a monstrous offer worth more than €400 million ($438 million) a year to continue his club career in Saudi Arabia, transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano and the Saudi Gazette have reported.
Romano shared the news on Twitter on Tuesday evening, tweeting that Al-Hilal have already sent the Argentine an official proposal. Hours earlier, the Saudi Gazette claimed to have learned of the offer from “well-informed sources”.
This comes after Mundo Deportivo reported that the Saudi outfit were preparing a package worth $350 million a season for the World Cup champion in January.
Yet according to Romano, Messi’s “absolute priority” is to carry on playing in Europe and not join generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who signed for Al-Nassr at the turn of 2023, in the Kingdom.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner is currently under contract at Paris Saint Germain but becomes a free agent on June 30 once the two-year deal he penned when switching from FC Barcelona in 2021 expires.
Romano further reports that Barca are “waiting on FFP (Financial Fair Play)” to send their own offer and begin negotiations, despite club Vice President Rafa Yuste recently confirming that talks have begun with the Messi camp.
The Catalans are mired in debts, and have been publicly warned by La Liga president Javier Tebas that they must shave €200 million ($219 million) from their wage bill in order to buy players and register contracts from current stars such as Gavi ahead of the 2023/2024 season.
PSG, according to Romano, have had their offer of a contract extension rejected as Messi “wanted sporting guarantees” before moving forward.
On Monday evening, L’Equipe in France reported that Messi is set to leave the Ligue 1 club this summer unless he takes a pay cut on the €3.375 million ($3.7 million) he takes home monthly according to the same French sports magazine.
Barca cannot even fathom offering Messi such sums. But if he were to tire of European football and accept Al-Hilal’s offer, the 35-year-old would immediately be in line to top Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players.
Messi finished second to PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe in 2022 with earnings of $120 million compared to Mbappe’s $128 million.
This development occurred because of a contract renewal the Frenchman penned with their club in the spring. Yet Messi looks increasingly likely to turn down the chance to pledge his commitment to the Qatari-backed giants, whose fans booed him once again on Sunday when his name was announced before a 1-0 home loss to Lyon.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not hesitate to react to the possibility of Messi earning 200 million euros more than him and responded with an outstanding performance on the last day of the Saudi league. In the match between Al-Nassr and Al-Adalh, the Portuguese national team, who failed in the World Cup in Qatar, scored a double and demonstrated his power in the rival goal. In nine games played with his current team, the Portuguese has nine goals and two assists.
