Messi is making sure to put his country before his new club
According to multiple outlets, Lionel Messi’s newly-signed PSG contract was only signed on the condition that a specific clause regarding his national team, Argentina, was included.
Aside from earning an astronomical anywhere from €35m-75 million a year, depending on where you read – the lesser still working out at staggering €2.91m a month and €729,000-per-week – it would seem he also wants to prioritise playing for his country in specific instances, fresh from finally winning the Copa America, his first international trophy, this year.
First reported in Argentine sports publisher, TyC Sports, one of the clauses that Messi‘s PSG contract “states that the Argentine National Team will be a priority for the Rosario to play official or friendly matches”.
In addition to this, as Roy Nemer posted on Twitter below, the Argentinian staff will also reap the benefits from the agreement.
Lionel Messi has a clause in his PSG contract that states that the Argentina national team would be his priority when it comes to playing official matches and friendly games.
In addition, the Argentina staff would have access to PSG's facilities. This via TyC Sports.
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) August 10, 2021
This seems like a relatively wise choice from the 34-year-old, given that the Ligue 1 trophy is still pretty much nailed on, even more so now the GOAT has joined the French giants. Admittedly, Lille did beat them to the title last season but in case you haven’t seen the squad PSG now have, the status quo is likely to return.
Moreover, it is believed that his former and now newly-reunited teammate Neymar also has a similar clause in his contract with the club for Brazil games. However, it would seem this stipulation didn’t stop them from blocking he and several other players’ participation in the Olympics – the clause relative to mainline association football only, perhaps.
Regardless, with the league title a given in at least one of the two years he has in his contract (oh, who are we kidding? It’s Messi, Neymar and Mbappe), clinching a first Champions League trophy for the club is the number one objective and so long as it doesn’t interfere with vital games for his country, the week-by-week is set to be business as usual, with or without him.
