Lionel Messi’s camp have already accepted an offer from Al-Hilal for €1.2 billion [€600m/year for two years]

Lionel Messi’s camp have already accepted an offer from Al-Hilal for €1.2 billion [€600m/year for two years].

Messi will almost certainly play his final game for PSG on Saturday night when they face Clermont Foot at the Parc des Princes. Despite his reintegration into the first-team set-up following an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia, the Argentinian World Champion is expected to leave Les Parisiens at the end of the season, although his next destination is not yet known.

AFP reported earlier in May that Messi had a verbal agreement in place to join a Saudi Arabian side, although the player’s entourage denied the existence of any such agreement to Get French Football News. However, Foot Mercato report that a deal is now in place.

At the same time, though, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia have been making a strong push for his signing. They are understood to have tabled a massive contract offer worth €500 million per year to the Argentina captain.

Beyond that , Al Hilal are also trying to sign two more Barcelona greats, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, in the hope that it will help convince Messi to join them.

The Blaugrana, though, remain hopeful of securing a return of their former skipper after having seen him leave the club in disheartening circumstances in 2021.

However, with La Liga yet to approve the Catalans’ economic viability plan, they are yet to table an official contract offer to Messi. As such, this delay could end up playing in the hands of Al Hilal.

According to the French publication, it is currently likely that Messi will join Al-Hilal upon the expiry of his PSG contract at the end of the season. Whilst the player still dreams of a return to Barcelona, Messi is now more receptive to the idea of joining the Saudi Arabian top-flight given the uncertainty surrounding the Catalan club’s finances. 

Should Messi join Al-Hilal, he would earn €1.2bn over the course of a two-year deal. That is more than double what Cristiano Ronaldo is currently earning at Saudi rivals Al-Nassr. The deal would also allow his father, Jorge Messi, as well as his brother, to earn the highest commission in footballing history. Foot Mercato go so far as to say that Jorge Messi has already agreed to the deal proposed by Al-Hilal.

Jose Felix Diaz broke the news of Cristiano Ronaldo to Al Nassr in January and claimed on his stream that the same source who gave him that information has told him to look out for Messi to Al Hilal as well Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema to Al Ittihad.

The Middle East nation are looking to strengthen their sporting profile ahead of a potential FIFA World Cup bid for 2030 and see the additions of global superstars like Messi as key to that objective.

But Barcelona are not going to throw in the towel right away and are likely to fight tooth and nail to try and re-sign Messi. It remains to be seen where the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s future lies.