Lionel Messi 'extremely happy' after joining PSG, dreams of Champions League win
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Messi, a six-times winner of the Ballon d'Or for Europe's best soccer player, signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi said on Wednesday that he is 'extremely happy' after joining star-packed French football club Paris St Germain and added that his aim is to win the Champions League for the team.
The 34-year-old superstar signed a two-year deal with PSG on Tuesday with the option of an additional year.
"Everything about the club matches my football ambitions," said Messi, who was given a hero's welcome by the PSG fans when he arrived in the French capital on Tuesday.
"I am determined to help build something special for the club and the fans, and I am looking forward to stepping out onto the pitch at the Parc des Princes."
The move will add the Argentine, one of the best players of his generation, to an already formidable PSG attack that includes Brazil's Neymar and French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe.
The arrival of Barcelona's record scorer, with 672 goals, will boost Qatari-owned PSG's ambitions to win the prestigious, and lucrative, European Champions League for the first time.
Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president and CEO of Paris St Germain, said it was an "amazing and historic day" to present Lionel Messi as a player for the French soccer powerhouse.
🎙 President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi: “I am delighted that Lionel Messi has chosen to join Paris Saint-Germain and we are proud to welcome him to Paris, with his family. "#PSGxMESSI https://t.co/RXclKJMoE8
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 11, 2021
"He makes football magic, beautiful. He is a winner," al-Khelaifi told a news conference.
French Football League president Vincent Labrune hailed the surprise arrival of the six-time Ballon d'Or winner as "extraordinary news for the exposure of Ligue 1 internationally".
PSG wasted little time in targeting Messi after the heavily indebted Catalan club made clear it could not afford to keep him because of La Liga's financial fair play rules.
Crowds of supporters thronged to the club's Parc des Princes stadium, chanting and setting off smoke flares.
Neymar and Mbappe were already the two most expensive soccer players in history, and the addition of Messi to Mauricio Pochettino's PSG line-up could rival the unstoppable triumvirate that he formed at Barcelona with Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Messi will wear the number 30 shirt, the club confirmed in a video posted on its Twitter feed, headlined "a new diamond in Paris".
Messi, who won four Champions Leagues and 10 domestic league titles with Barcelona, joins several other big names arriving at PSG on a free transfer this summer.
Spain defender Sergio Ramos was no longer wanted at Real Madrid, Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum had run down his contract with Liverpool and Italy's Euro 2020-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma also joined after his contract with AC Milan ran out.
The arrival of Messi, whose last contract with Barcelona was worth a total of 555 million euros ($650 million) and reported to be the most lucrative in world sport, is also set to provoke a renewed new debate about UEFA's financial fair play rules.
Soccer's European governing body introduced the rules in 2009 in an attempt to restrict the power of free-spending owners to buy success, but their success is debatable.
The star-power of Messi, who has 245 million followers on Instagram, will be welcome news for Ligue 1 as a battle rages between broadcasters over the price of its television rights, crucial to the finances of the clubs.
(With inputs from agencies)