Present tense, future imperfect for Messi after Barcelona exit amid PSG talk

Plan A was to stay at Barcelona but after the Catalan club, home for his entire career, ruefully accepted it cannot afford him any more, Lionel Messi was Saturday expected to be about to embark on plan P for Paris.

French fans and media alike were salivating on the effect the superstar’s mooted arrival at Paris Saint-Germain would have on the club and the French league as a whole amid reports the Argentinian will end up in the capital.

As France awaited developments with bated breath, Barcelona said Messi will hold a press conference at noon Sunday while coach Ronald Koeman struggled to accept the sweet sorrow of parting.

“Still hard to understand that you will not play for @FCBarcelona anymore,” tweeted Koeman, the man whose goal won Barca their first European crown in 1992.

“Thanks for everything you have done for our club Leo. I really enjoyed the full season we worked together. I am impressed with your work ethic and desire to win.”

Sport daily, based in the city, insisted, however, that “for the moment, Messi has no offer from any club,” PSG included.

After 17 years in Barcelona, where he lifted 10 league crowns and four Champions Leagues, Messi, 34, would arrive at a PSG desperate to make him the final piece in their jigsaw, the club never having won the European game’s premier club honour.

Former Barcelona teammate, Brazilian Neymar, has made no secret of his desire for a reunion almost since his own departure from the Camp Nou four years ago and it appears his wish is on the verge of being granted.

The fact that the club have a fellow Argentinian in the hotseat in the shape of Mauricio Pochettino is an added attraction as six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi looks to cut ties with Barca which go back to a contract signed on a napkin at the age of 13.

After all the smoke and mirrors of a will-he-won’t-he-go saga stretching back to last year, when he sought to trigger an early release from his contract in Barcelona, the Catalan club said Friday that Spanish League salary restrictions mean they must bid farewell.

With Manchester City coach and former Messi mentor at the Camp Nou, Pep Guardiola, saying the Premier League champions are not in the market, that left PSG as the only suitors with deep enough pockets -- in Spain he was reportedly pocketing north of 70 million euros a year net -- to offer a new challenge.

It is one he will accept, Le Parisien daily said.

“Messi to Paris, it’s yes,” the paper headlined, describing the sealing of a “marriage of love and reason”.

Sports daily L’Equipe indicated Messi is to receive a three-year “record contract” with “a net annual wage of 40 million euros” -- but it appears nothing has been signed.

Other clubs welcomed the idea of Messi lighting up French stages.

“It would be good for the French championship. He’s the best in the world,” said Monaco coach Niko Kovac on Friday.

Former PSG coach Antoine Kombouare, now in charge of Nantes, said “it would be a huge coup for the league. For PSG too.”

But he said he believed the story still was based on “rumours.”

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Friday he was not prepared “to put the club at risk” by renewing Messi’s contract, as the club face up to huge financial problems ahead of the start of La Liga on August 15.

He indicated Messi “has other offers and there is a time limit because La Liga starts soon and he needs time to assess his other options.”

Le Parisien reported that Messi’s father and representative Jorge had reached out to PSG after it became clear the player would not be staying in Catalonia.

“Our president is looking at ways of improving the team,” was all Pochettino would say on the issue.

Messi originally had reached agreement with Barcelona to sign a five-year contract worth 50 percent less per year.

Agencies