World superstar Lionel Andres Messi will play in Saudi Arabia next season under a “huge deal” a source close to the ongoing negotiations have told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Tuesday. "Messi is a done deal. He will play in Saudi Arabia next season," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity and without naming the club. "The contract is exceptional. It's huge. We are just finalizing some small details," added the source, who is not authorized to speak to the media.

When Messi's current club PSG was asked to comment on the subject, they simply said that the world champion remains under contract until June 30th. A separate PSG source said: "If the club had wanted to renew his contract, it would have been done earlier." Messi is a highly-paid tourism ambassador for Saudi Arabia and he had earlier been suspended by Qatari-owned PSG last week for an unauthorized trip to the nation. Messi's expected arrival in the oil-rich kingdom follows in the footsteps of his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr in a massive deal in January. Ronaldo's agreement to June 2025 is said to total more than 400 million euros ($439 million), making him the world's highest-paid athlete according to Forbes.

The source added that both deals are being bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds with more than $620 billion in assets. "The negotiations didn't take as much time as the ones with Ronaldo. As we now know the recipe to contract world-class players. It's Saudi Arabia that brought him not a specific club. The Money comes from one place -- PIF," said the source. Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival to Al Nassr might have given them the much-needed crowds while they are in action but it has not had the impact Al Nassr would have hoped for on the pitch. Al Nassr have lost the top spot in the Saudi Pro League table and are out of the running in both the King's Cup and Super Cup. Rudi Garcia the French coach left the club in April. 

Messi has had two lackluster seasons in Paris after a glorious era at Barcelona where his career is decorated with four UEFA Champions League titles in addition to ten La Liga trophies. PSG have been in search for their first UCL trophy and they hoped that they arrival of Messi who was joining the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar would help steer the club towards achieving this goal but the Champions League title has remained to be a pipe dream to the Ligue 1 champions to date. Frustrations boiled over last week when black-clad PSG protesters let off flares and sang hostile chants targeting the underperforming Messi, Neymar, and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti. These are scenes that contrasted Messi's career-crowning moment in December when he won football's most coveted trophy when Argentina were crowned world champions in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. It will once again be a tantalizing spectacle for football lovers as they watch Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo share a football pitch once again. They are arguably the world's best footballers to ever grace our football pitches. 

(Image: Daily Sabah)