Paris St Germain sporting director Leonardo has conceded that Lionel Messi never envisaged playing for the club but is delighted that the forward does.

Messi ended his 21-year association with Barcelona in August after the club were unable to re-register him due to their crippling financial situation. As a result, the 34-year-old put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal at PSG with the option of a further 12 months included.

And speaking about how they managed to sign the Argentine, Leonardo admitted that it wasn’t in the plan of their new No 30’s to move to leave the Spanish outfit.

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“I can’t hide that we had contact before, but after January, when he had six months left on his contract. We never spoke to him before January 2021,’ he told Marca. I think his idea was to stay at Barca. Honestly, he was sure he didn’t want to go and he wanted to finish his career there.

“But there ended the Messi story at Barcelona and ours began.

“Imagining a player like Messi with the PSG shirt is something enormous and very nice.’

Vanguard News Nigeria