Lionel Messi's arrival at PSG represents the joy and agony of the soccer world
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
For fans of Paris Saint-Germain, there’s only euphoria. For supporters of Barcelona, only despair.
There is no in-between.
For the rest of us, the reaction to Tuesday’s news that Lionel Messi has agreed to join PSG — to the surprise of nobody — on a two-year contract falls somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.
On the one hand, neutrals around the world are rightfully saddened not just by Messi’s sudden departure from Barcelona, the club at which he established himself as arguably the greatest player of all time, but also by the way it happened.
Messi didn’t want to go. He was forced out by financial fair play rules that don’t seem at all fair and which have never been consistently enforced before now.
Salary limits clearly don’t appear to apply to PSG, the Gulf state-owned club with bottomless pockets that boasted the most star-laden roster in the sport even before Messi’s arrival, which is expected to be officially announced Wednesday.
There’s nothing fair about this.
On the other hand, now that the shock of Messi leaving Barca has worn off and a new reality is starting to set in, there’s this: How can any red-blooded futbol lover not be excited to see Messi line up alongside former Barca running mate Neymar and French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe to form the greatest attacking trio the sport has ever seen?
You can make a solid case that Messi, Neymar and Mbappe are the three most dangerous forwards in today’s game. Together, they will tear apart defenses in the wide-open Ligue 1. The highlights will be beamed across the planet every weekend, consumed by a public unable to play the videos quickly enough.
Adding Messi to a revamped squad — since July, PSG had already inked longtime Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, AC Milan keeper/Euro2020 hero Gianluigi Donnarumma, ex-Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum and right-back Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan — that reached its only Champions League final last summer makes Mauricio Pochettino’s team the odds-on favorite to hoist Europe’s most coveted trophy in 2021-22.
Win or lose, PSG is now must-see TV every time they take the field.
In Paris, Messi no longer will be forced to do everything by himself. Messi lugged Argentina’s national team on his shoulders for more than a decade before a goal by Angel Di Maria, now also his teammate at PSG, won Copa America for the country last month. And Messi had increasingly become a one-man show at Barca following the departure of Neymar in 2017 and Luis Suarez before last season.
While Barca wildly overspent on inferior replacements, Messi’s burden remained.
PSG should be a breath of fresh air. Although Messi will still be under immense pressure to perform, he’ll have plenty of help. Playing at the Parc des Princes could even lengthen his otherworldly career.
Had Messi gotten his wish to leave Barcelona last summer (the two sides eventually repaired the relationship), there’s an even chance he would’ve ended up in England, with Manchester City. Messi obviously has the ability to dominate any competition, but the hard-tackling Premier League is not particularly well-suited to his game.
Not only is defense optional in France, but Ligue 1 also breaks for a month every winter, which should help ensure that Messi, who turned 34 in June, gets as much rest as he can ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which is now just 15 months away.
It’s also difficult to imagine a more welcoming dressing room than the one at PSG. Di Maria is just one of three members of the Albiceleste already on the club’s first-team books. Pochettino, the coach, is another compatriot.
There will be a period of adjustment, to be sure. This time last week, Messi was convinced he’d be playing in Barcelona this season. The change will take some getting used to for him, as it will for us. But Messi should be comfortable at PSG right from the start.
During his tear-soaked goodbye news conference Sunday, Messi spoke about the weirdness of moving on from Barcelona after so many years.
"People will get used to it," he assured them.
The handwringing that Messi’s departure set off is understandable, as is the cynicism that accompanied it. Neutrals who believe money has ruined the planet’s most popular sport are entitled to that viewpoint.
Yet nobody needs to deprive themselves if they want to see a little more magic from Messi in the time he has left at the highest level, whatever jersey he happens to be wearing.
We all have to live in the world as it is, not the one we wish existed.
This isn’t the end for Messi, merely a new beginning. He’s a Paris Saint-Germain player now.
It’s beginning to feel normal already.
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
