- Flies out of Barcelona with wife
Lionel Messi has reached an agreement with Paris Saint Germain (PSG) over a transfer to the French soccer club.
Sports paper, L’Equipe, said on its website, adding he was due to arrive in Paris in the coming hours.
Messi, the 34-year-old record goalscorer for both Argentina and FC Barcelona, is one of the greatest players of all time.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, wept on Sunday as he bade farewell to his boyhood team, after the club said it could no longer afford to keep him, due to La Liga’s fair play rules.
The PSG frontline is already formidable, with Messi’s former Barca team mate Neymar and young France striker, Kylian Mbappe seen as two of the best players on the planet.
But the arrival of Messi, Barca’s all-time record goal scorer with 682 in 27 years, will boost the club’s ambitions to win a first ever Champions League.
The arrival of Messi, who has 245 million followers on Instagram and is Barcelona’s most decorated player of all time, is also welcome news for France’s Ligue 1.
Lionel and Antonela Messi
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela have boarded a plane en route Paris.
The sixth-time Ballon De Or winner is expected to sign a two-year contract with the French giants – PSG.
He is expected to have a medical before he is unveiled.
Messi bid his childhood club Barcelona a tearful farewell on Sunday over the Spanish giants inability to register him having exceeded the salary cap.