Despite his inexhaustible fortune, did Sheikh Tamim Al-Thani even believe he could, one day, afford such a player to add him to his sports showcase? Ten years after having bought Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG), the Emir of Qatar sees the Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi, best footballer of this start of XXIe century, put on the jersey of the club of the capital.
At the end of five days of negotiations carried out briskly, the ex-star of FC Barcelona gave his agreement, Tuesday, August 10, to evolve with the team coached by his compatriot Mauricio Pochettino: he committed, in the evening , for two seasons, with an optional additional year (against an annual salary of more than 30 million euros, excluding bonuses).
At the end of the contract, Barça’s free party for budgetary reasons, the 34-year-old striker landed in the afternoon at Le Bourget airport, where he received a standing ovation from several hundred supporters. Inconsolable Sunday, during theatrical farewell to socios blaugrana, Barcelona supporters, the “Pulga” (“the chip”) quickly dried her tears. “Here is Paris”, could we read on his white T-Shirt chosen to better treat his arrival.
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“A planetary event”
After his medical examination at the American Hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), the six-fold Golden Ball made a detour through the Parc des Princes, the PSG stadium, to pose with his new jersey then greet the Parisian fans, before moving to the Hotel Royal Monceau, in the 8e district of the capital. It was to be officially presented at a press conference on Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the auditorium of the Parc des Princes.
Could the managers of the Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) fund better celebrate this decade spent at the head of PSG than by recruiting the quadruple winner of the Champions League and top scorer in the history of FC Barcelona (672 goals in 778 matches with Barça)?
Qualifying it as“Planetary event”, the president of the Professional Football League (LFP), Vincent Labrune, emphasizes that this purchase of opportunity is the “Fruit of the strategy of the leaders of the PSG”. In this case, the Argentine, who was the man of one club since his arrival at the Barcelona training center at the age of 13, becomes the new head of the gas emirate on the chessboard. sports diplomacy.
Build a brand
The transaction crowns a decade of pharaonic investments made by Tamim Al-Thani to build a brand whose notoriety is supposed to consolidate the image of Qatar across the globe. “ The stages Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2012), David Beckham (2013), Neymar (2017) and now Messi have been indispensable and defining in allowing the club to become a great global franchise., underlines Alain Cayzac, former president of PSG (2006-2008) under the era of the American group Colony Capital and remained close to the Qataris. We send a signal when we make this type of player want to come to Paris. ”
” PSG is building a brand, not a club, smiles a connoisseur of the club, familiar with the storytelling built by QSI. Football is incidental to all of this, it is a by-product. Messi, it is unexpected on the marketing plan. It’s just the last game of poker: we are “all-in” to arrive flamboyantly at the World Cup ”, which will be organized in Qatar in November and December 2022. For Michel Denisot, the former president (1991-1998) of PSG under the Canal + era, “Everything is done by Qatar to dazzle the world in 2022 with the World Cup and this fantastic team”.
Sportingly, the recruitment of Messi is supposed to allow the club to win the Champions League before the World Cup is held. And achieve this goal before Manchester City, the other new rich of the continent, owned since 2008 by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi and executioner of PSG during the last European campaigns – defeat in the quarterfinals in 2016 and in the semi-finals in May 2021.
For the president of Olympique Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas, “The planets are aligned” : “QSI wanted to give itself the means to reach the top, politically and sportingly, in the year of the World Cup. ” A competition that Lionel Messi dreams of finally winning with his national team.
Mr. Aulas does not see “Not PSG not to win Ligue 1 [il a été déchu de son titre par Lille la saison passée] and the Champions League this season ”, after the recruitment of Messi and other stars at the end of their contract, such as ex-Real Madrid captain, Spaniard Sergio Ramos, Italian AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Dutch Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
Rise of the Qatari version of PSG
In the midst of the economic crisis due to Covid-19 and the end of the conflict around the aborted Super League project, which in April pitted the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) against a few secessionist clubs (Juventus Turin, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid), the arrival of Lionel Messi in Paris illustrates the rise of PSG and its influential president, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, on the continental scene.
“Investor States [Qatar, Emirats arabes unis] ohas succeeded in taking a form of power on the sporting and political levels, says Aulas. These last two terrible years have given them the means to follow their logic to the end. “
Incarnation of FC Barcelona for more than two decades, Lionel Messi does he not risk damaging his legend of loyal player and builder? “The club and its vision are in perfect harmony with my ambitions”, said Tuesday evening, the Argentine, who has never hidden his wish to one day leave Europe to end his career in the United States.
“Messi, in Barcelona, is an almost authentic work. In Paris, it becomes a commodity, notes a connoisseur of the arcana of PSG. He joined a club which is “més que un club” [« plus qu’un club », la devise du Barça]. ” The showcase of a State, whose ambition, well beyond football, seems insatiable.
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