Lionel Messi will leave PSG at the end of the season, but a return to his former club looks unlikely.
(Image credit: Getty)
PSG star Lionel Messi has reportedly decided to leave the French champions when his contract expires at the end of the season, with a move to Major League Soccer on the cards.
The 35-year-old departed his boyhood club Barcelona amid dire financial issues last summer and penned a two-year deal in Paris.
Messi won the Ligue 1 title in his debut season, scoring six league goals as he teamed up with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in a glittering forward line.
Messi's future could lie in Major League Soccer. (Image credit: Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
But Beteve reports that Messi doesn’t want to extend his stay at PSG beyond 2022/23 as he hasn’t settled there.
He will therefore leave next summer, with the Argentina international said to be eyeing a long-touted switch to MLS.
There have been rumours of a return to Barcelona after club president Joan Laporta publicly stated he would like to make the move happen, but a Camp Nou switch isn’t a priority for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
The Catalan publication claims that something putting Messi off a move to Barcelona is the presence of his former team-mate Gerard Pique, and that the forward won’t go back if Pique is still a member of the squad.
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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.
