Lionel Messi and his wife Antonella Roccuzzo were in Saudi Arabia this week as part of their work with the Saudi Tourism Authority. Photo: AFP.
The Saudi government is preparing the biggest salary deal in football history to get Lionel Messi into the Saudi Arabian professional league this summer, according to Telegraph Sport.
Negotiations with Messi's representatives led by his father Jorge when the player becomes a free agent at the end of June after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires. The whole package could be worth $400m a year (£320m), more than even the £165m that Cristiano Ronaldo is paid annually to play in Saudi Arabia through the summer of 2025.
The traditional process for Saudi Arabia to sign the world's top talent, as in the case of Ronaldo in December, has been for the state to be involved in the deals before the final club is decided.
The Saudi government has recruited the former Manchester City. chief executive Harry Cooke, who was in charge of the club when the Abu Dhabi takeover was completed in 2008, held a similar position in the Saudi Pro League. He is expected to be involved in any discussions to secure Messi's signature.
PSG's offer has been under consideration since January to extend Messi's stay in the French capital for another 12 months, but there is no expectation now that it will be signed .
Ronaldo has joined Al Nasr, who are currently second in the league behind leaders Al Ittihad. Al-Nasr's traditional rivals are Al-Hilal and Messi's placement with this historically most successful club in the country will recreate the rivalry the pair had for nine years with Real Madrid and Barcelona. Al-Hilal won the equivalent of the Asian Champions League in 2021, his fourth title in that competition.
and Ronaldo. Photo: AFP/Franck Fife
Messi's project, combined with Ronaldo's influence in Saudi Arabia, which the Saudi authorities saw as successful, is expected to secure the country's status as the ultimate club for the world's biggest names. Mohammed bin Salman has accelerated the development of the game in line with the Crown Prince's Vision 2030 plan, which would place sports at the heart of the country's modernization plan.
Messi is already the highest-ranking «ambassador» of the Saudi Arabian Tourism Authority (STA), and another major publicity stunt was achieved this week at the cost of disappointing PSG. The club fined its most famous player two weeks' wages and suspended him for the same period as punishment for traveling to Saudi Arabia without a permit to fulfill his obligations under the STA contract.
PSG's decision to punish Messi was not taken lightly. The player's requests to visit Saudi Arabia were denied, so when he flew to Riyadh in his private jet, it was seen as a breach of his contract. When Messi didn't show up for training on Monday, PSG wanted to state their position, although they didn't make an official statement on the matter in order to avoid further aggravation of the situation.
Messi's jump to Saudi Arabia earned him a fine and a two-week suspension from PSG. Photo: Reuters/Christian Hartmann
The main tension is between Qatar, which owns PSG through Qatar Sports Investments, and Saudi Arabia. read into every major game in world football. During last year's World Cup final in Qatar, Messi was the star of the STA commercial that ran during every commercial break on the Qatari TV channel beIN Sports.
With 16 clubs, the Saudi Arabian Professional League follows the same cycle from August to May as the European competition. Saudi ministers are ecstatic about the impact Ronaldo's signing has had on the Saudi population. Attendance at the Saudi Pro League has almost doubled compared to last year, and since Ronaldo's arrival, social media conversations about the league among women and girls have grown by 237%, according to official data released by Telegraph Sport.
In press A 1,000-word STA release sent to the media on Wednesday in connection with the Messi family's trip to Saudi Arabia highlights how important the world's greatest footballer is to the kingdom's rebranding as a contender to host the 2030 World Cup final. /p>
It details the Saudi Arabia sightseeing itinerary not only by the man himself — «he was fascinated by the meeting with the white falcon that rested on his arm» — but also by his wife Antonella Rocuzzo's itinerary. She was described as wearing the traditional Saudi Khama, «an ornamental headdress historically worn by women from the Najdi region of the kingdom.»
The Messi family brand is now a powerful backbone for the worldwide reputation of a man who, at 35, is still capable of playing a decisive role in Argentina's victory at the World Cup in Doha.
He has good connections with Saudi Arabia. -established. Messi played for Barcelona in Jeddah in January 2020 as part of the Spanish Super Cup, a £102 million three-year contract with the Spanish Football Federation. In November 2019, Riyadh hosted a friendly match between Argentina and Brazil when Messi faced Turki Al Sheikh, the chairman of the country's «entertainment headquarters».
The kingdom has become a leading destination for some boxers&# 39 the biggest fights, including Anthony Joshua's rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. at Diria, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Messi visited this week. The public wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) led the consortium that acquired Newcastle United.
The Saudi government declined to comment. Representatives of Leo Messi Management also declined to comment.
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