When Lionel Messi abruptly left FC Barcelona last summer because the Spanish club was unable to fit his wages under the La Liga salary cap, the Argentine had to act fast to find his next team.
During a segment on RMC Sport’s Rothen s’enflamme, French football pundit Ludovic Giuly said he was convinced that Lionel Messi had no other choice but to sign for Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Giuly stated that Messi had nowhere else to go that late in the window, considering that Manchester City had made a significant transfer when they acquired Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.
“Who else was going to pay him?” Giuly said. “City had taken Grealish. If it happens a month before, Guardiola welcomes him with the red carpet. But there, who can pay it? Only Paris could pay it! When Leo goes on vacation, he knows there’s a problem. You think Nasser didn’t call him?!”
“Of course, he called; of course, they had started agreement in advance. Leo thought that Barca would offer to lower his salary by 50-percent, but they didn’t even offer him that! He knows Neymar, Paredes, Di Maria… Where do you think he’s going? Don’t you think they called him guys? They called him and said, ‘we welcome you!”
🗣💬 "Qui allait le prendre ? Quel club avait les moyens de payer Messi ?"
🔴🔵 Ludovic Giuly est persuadé que Messi n'avait pas d'autre choix que le PSG l'été dernier. pic.twitter.com/cs3OKuvZIZ
— Rothen s'enflamme (@Rothensenflamme) March 3, 2022
