The manager of Paris Saint Germain, Mauricio Pochettino, has made his first comments about the transfer speculation linking Lionel Messi with the French club.
Recall that since Lionel Messi’s contract with FC Barcelona expired on June 30, 2021, the French Ligue 1 side have been strongly linked with the 6 times Ballon d’Or winner. It is believed that PSG are on the verge of signing Messi for free this summer.
Initially, the news was that Manchester City and PSG were the frontrunners for the signature of the 34-year-old football icon who spent the last 21 years of his life at Barcelona.
However, when Barcelona confirmed that they would not be able to retain Lionel Messi, PSG completely became the front runner for the signature of the Argentine football icon.
It became so easy for PSG because Manchester City that wanted to sign him had already signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a British transfer record fee of £100 million before it was confirmed that Messi would no longer stay at Barca. And it is believed that the 25-year-old English versatile football star has the same attributes on the pitch as Messi.
So far, reports from France are claiming that negotiations between PSG and the representatives of Lionel Messi have reached an advanced stage.
Recently, Khalid bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the brother of the owner of French Ligue 1 club, Nasser Al-Khelaifi confirmed on Twitter that the negotiation between the club and Messi’s representatives have been concluded which means the Argentine icon could be on his way to PSG.
Negotiations are officially concluded. And announce later #Messi #Paris_Saint_Germain pic.twitter.com/BxlmCfARII
— خلـــيفة بـــن حمـــد آلــ ثانــــــي (@khm_althani) August 6, 2021
The club is reportedly ready to offer the 34-year-old Argentine footballer two years contract which would earn him £25 million per year.
Since all these reports have been making the rounds, coach Mauricio Pochettino has not had an opportunity to comment on it publicly. Hence, after the club’s first league game of the 2021-2022 season on Saturday, August 7, 2021, the Argentine tactician was dragged into the discussion.
In the post-match press conference of the Ligue 1 match between PSG and newly promoted Troyes which ended 2-1 in favor of PSG, coach Mauricio Pochettino noted that Messi is not only linked with PSG but with many other clubs.
“His name is associated with different clubs, there are plenty of rumors,” Pochettino was quoted as saying by L’Equipe.
“We will see what happens in the coming days. The players have stayed focused. We did not start the game well and we gave away too many chances for my liking.
“But we have to give Troyes credit for making it difficult for us, they showed a lot of energy. We would have liked to win 5-0 but we’ll take what we achieved.”
Goals from PSG’s new signing Achraf Hakimi and Mauro Icardi gave the French side the 2-1 victory after Troyes’ brilliant start which saw the club’s Oualid El Hajjam scored a 9th-minute goal.
The league matches will continue today, August 8, 2021. Fans of the league would want to see how Lille will start their league title defense when they visit Metz at 16:00 later today.
