Lionel Messi has agreed a two-year deal with Paris St-Germain to join the French club following his exit from Barcelona.
The deal includes an option to extend by a year and gives the forward a net salary of about €35m (£29.6m) with bonuses factored in.
The 34-year-old Argentina captain left Barca – the only club he has ever played for – as they were unable to afford a new deal under La Liga’s financial fair play rules.
Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG finished second to Lille in Ligue 1 last season.
Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Messi scored a record 672 goals in 778 games for Barca, the club he joined as a 13-year-old.
He won the Ballon d’Or a record six times and lifted 35 trophies with the Catalan club.
The move enables Messi to link up again with Neymar, a former Barcelona teammate who has been working to convince the Argentinian to join him in Paris.
Unless there are any late hitches, he will become PSG’s fourth free-transfer signing this summer after the arrivals of midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, defender Sergio Ramos and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Highly rated right-back Achraf Hakimi also joined from Inter Milan.
Messi had agreed a new deal – on 50% of his old wages – to stay at Barcelona but the club could not afford to implement it because they were so far above the wage limit allowed by La Liga.
