French football expert Jonathan Johnson has discussed the latest on Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain future in this week’s exclusive CaughtOffside column, to be published in full tomorrow morning.
Messi’s future at PSG looks in major doubt as we head towards the summer, and Johnson has explained that this could be partly down to the Ligue 1 giants’ desire to move towards a different model in terms of their recruitment and squad building.
PSG have spent vast sums of money on big names like Messi in recent years, but it’s perhaps not yielded the success they expected, and left them with a hefty wage bill that is bringing issues in terms of keeping within Financial Fair Play rules.
Johnson believes it could therefore make sense for Messi to leave this summer, and for PSG to build around a different calibre of player, with perhaps more young and local stars coming in.
He said: “PSG’s record since the start of 2023 is horrendous – it’s cost them in the Champions League, in the Coupe de France, and it could end up costing them in the title race as well.
“It’s not just specific to Messi, but it does mean that, at this moment in the PSG project, Messi doesn’t have a massive amount of leverage – his contract, which is very expensive, is expiring, and PSG need to trim their wage bill to keep in line with Financial Fair Play.
“There’s a growing pressure for PSG to move away from this model of bringing in ageing superstars and to build more around younger, local players. This means the likes of Messi and Sergio Ramos are becoming a little less important, with important people behind the scenes recognising the financial headache it’s giving the club.
“Ultimately it will be with the Qatari owners to decide about how the project will move forwards, but it seems likely it’ll be built around Kylian Mbappe and other French players.
“There was a sort of half-hearted effort to start this new process last summer under Luis Campos, but a lot of the signings haven’t really worked out. I think we’ll now see a more severe change in direction this summer, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we see Messi move on as part of that.”
He added: “Things could still change, but with all the noises coming out of the Parc des Princes in the last few weeks, it does seem more and more likely that Messi’s future ultimately lies away from PSG as things stand.”