Chaired aloft by his great friend Sergio Aguero, surrounded by teammates with whom a lifelong bond had been forged over the course of seven history-making games, Lionel Messi held the trophy he had always cherished.
The notion of sporting perfection is often alluded to and rarely merited. But this really was perfect. Messi, probably the greatest player of all time in possession of the greatest prize in football at the end of a career-long quest within the psychodrama of Argentina’s national football team.
Finally, he had his World Cup. It was an unmatchable high.
Less than half a year later, Messi is suspended by Paris Saint-Germain, having been booed by the club’s fans amid uncertainty over his next move. Fabrizio Romano and Guillem Balague have each reported that he will leave Paris this summer.
In June, Messi will turn 36. It is tempting to ask, after 27 major senior honours for club and country, seven Ballons d’Or and countless other distinctions, whether there needs to be a next move at all.
MORE: Why was Lionel Messi suspended by PSG?
Why did PSG suspend Messi? Why was he booed by fans?
Messi is out of contract at PSG at the end of this season, with an option to extend for a third year now seemingly ditched. He might have already played his final game for the Ligue 1 giants, who are limping unconvincingly towards retaining their title.
L’Equipe reported that the forward had been suspended for two weeks by his employers for an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia. During this time he will not be paid, a hit to his pocket of an estimated $1.6 million, or allowed to train with the club.
That means Messi will sit out the forthcoming games against Troyes and Ajaccio, while there will be questions over his match fitness for the concluding domestic schedule of Auxerre, Strasbourg, and Clermont Foot.
There are, of course, no Champions League commitments for Messi and that is a big reason for his unpopularity with some of the PSG ultras. His arrival in 2021 was supposed to get PSG over the line in Europe’s top competition as he completed a dream team forward line alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
In reality, the 2020 finalists and 2021 semifinalists have gone backwards, departing in the last 16 in each of the past two seasons. After those respective reverses to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Messi was barracked by a section of supporters at the Parc des Princes.
In this age of superstars at PSG, it is Mbappe’s club. The boy from Paris. By contrast, Messi and Neymar are handsomely paid interlopers who have not done enough to justify their paycheques, even before one decided not to turn up for work.
Why did Messi visit Saudi Arabia? Will Messi play with Cristiano Ronaldo?
Messi went to Saudi Arabia with his family as part of his sponsorship duties for Visit Saudi, the Gulf state's tourism authority.
It means Messi’s links to a part of the world making huge and controversial moves in the world of football are considerable and in conflict. He plays for Qatar-owned PSG and his cinematically flawless 2022 World Cup performance played out enduringly in a host nation that was heavily criticised for alleged human rights violations in relation to migrant workers and minorities including the LGBTQ+ community.
It remains to be seen to what extent Messi’s role as a tourism ambassador might bleed into Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to host the 2030 World Cup, something that could become particularly controversial given Argentina and Uruguay’s ambitions to stage the same centenary edition.
Of course, the Saudi tie-up aligns him with his great on-field rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Manchester United to join Al Nassr for a reported annual salary of €200m last December.
Ronaldo has scored 12 goals for his current club and they are vying for the league title, although reports from Catalan newspaper El Nacional this week claimed he was eyeing an exit.
Romano reported last month that Al Nassr rivals Al Hilal were ready to tempt Messi with an annual €400m package. But, as the recent Ronaldo speculation suggests, if you’ve played at the pinnacle of sporting achievement for the best part of two decades, achieving unimaginable feats, feathering your record in a lesser league has limited appeal beyond giving a man with more money than he will ever need even more money.
MORE: Saudi Pro League table, standings 2022-2023
Will Messi go back to Barcelona?
More or less since the moment Barcelona’s financial strife meant Messi had to leave and sign for PSG on a free transfer, a return to Camp Nou has been mooted.
Now, with his contract in the French capital winding down, the route appears to be cleared. However, Barcelona remain in turmoil behind the scenes, with every transfer window bringing a fresh round of stories over which players can and can’t be registered with La Liga after the latest round of horse trading and financial lever-pulling.
At the same time, Barcelona manager Xavi has built a vibrant young side on the cusp of regaining the Spanish title. Robert Lewandowski is the prolific veteran in the equation. Is there room for another, in the form of Messi, in his longtime ex-teammate’s plans?
Even at his advanced age, it feels like something close to sacrilege to question whether Messi could fit into or enhance a team. But Ronaldo’s unseemly Manchester United denouement showed that aging greats fitting into modern European clubs sides with elite aspirations — and all the physical demands that places on every player in the XI — is not straightforward.
Lionel Scaloni building an Argentina team around Messi, unified by an incredible sense of common purpose and with the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez jackhammering around him, is one thing. To ask a club coach to replicate that over a season in excess of 50 games is a huge ask and one that Messi’s still-otherwolrdly talents could not answer alone.
Why didn’t Messi sign for Man City and Pep Guardiola?
One man who tends to have the answers to most problems is the tactician still most synonymous with Messi. A reunion with ex-Barcelona head coach Pep Guardiola was thought to be close in 2020 before Messi was unable to extract himself from his Camp Nou contract to join Manchester City.
Erling Haaland is now powering the Premier League champions towards a potentially trophy-laden conclusion to the 2022/23 campaign. In truth, the Messi ship has probably sailed for Guardiola. Even City’s ample financial muscle would probably struggle to squeeze Messi, Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne onto the same wage bill.
Tantalisingly, Guardiola’s remodelled 3-2-4-1 system could maybe accommodate another support attacker. Ilkay Gundogan floats around masterfully into pockets around De Bruyne and Haaland, adding an expert deftness to City in full flight.
Gundogan is out of contract at the end of this season and is reportedly on Barcelona’s radar. A fantasy football option would be Messi making a late-career switch into midfield as a one-season replacement prior to the 2024 Copa America.
On the ball, in this version of a Guardiola team, Messi would be typically mesmerising. Taking on Gundogan’s responsibilities in terms of snapping into duels and snaffling second balls might be a part of the brief he relishes less.
The Premier League remains a box unticked for Messi. As alternatives to City, there are the Saudi-owned Newcastle United and Todd Boehly’s madcap Chelsea, who could soon be operating under Messi’s former PSG coach and compatriot Mauricio Pochettino.
As with the alternatives elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East, none of this feels like an ideal solution at this stage of a frequently ideal career.
MORE: Best Man City team of all-time? Why 2022/23 treble chasers might be Pep Guardiola's finest
Has Messi played in Argentina?
Pochettino and Messi both hail from Rosario and are fans of Newell’s Old Boys. Unlike Pochettino, Messi never played for his boyhood club after being famously whisked away to Catalonia as a 13-year-old.
Returning to his homeland to play for Newell’s is unquestionably the fairytale option. Alas, in reality, it feels entirely unworkable.
When Messi went back to play in Argentina’s home friendlies in March, footage of him being mobbed when heading out for dinner with his family in Buenos Aires went viral. Such is his gargantuan fame that anything approaching a normal life in Argentina would be impossible, especially now that he has brought home the World Cup to match the exploits of the country’s great idol Diego Maradona.
Any lingering hopes of an emotional return to Rosario to represent Newell’s probably died in March, when gunmen left a threatening message for Messi when attacking a supermarket owned by his in-laws.
Argentine football star Lionel Messi was mobbed in Buenos Aires when fans learned where he was dining 👇 pic.twitter.com/SR7ounVv0B
— AJE Sport (@AJE_Sport) March 22, 2023
Will Messi play in MLS?
Another alternative floated from time to time, most recently in April 2023, is a move to MLS — namely at the David Beckham-owned Inter Miami, where Messi could take an equity stake in the club alongside his designated player wages.
This appears to be most feasible from 2024 onwards, after that year’s Copa America that will be held in the United States and the 2026 World Cup, also in North America. Such a move would carry an element of a grand mission — completing the task that Pele started in 1970s of trying to cement soccer into the American mainstream sporting consciousness.
There would also be the practicality of shorter travel distances to South America and a schedule that could be tailored towards Messi leading Argentina’s bids to retain the Copa America and World Cup. It is certainly understandable, after so many years of heartache playing for his country, that Messi wants to roll on with the good times.
But those efforts will be devilishly hard. The Albiceleste came through an opening-game defeat, unrelenting drama and a couple of penalty shootouts to win in Qatar. More talented Argentina squads in Messi’s prime years could not accomplish what they did. Through skill, hard toil and timely chunks of luck, everything fell into place this time.
Eking out a couple more tournaments as he approaches 40 might come to feel like the cliche of the bank robber being coaxed back to the vault for one more job. In terms of real-world sporting comparisons, think Michael Jordan at the Washington Wizards or Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes.
Messi does not need to go there. Right now he is the king of South America and the king of the world and has the medals to prove it.
The most content he has looked during his post-World Cup months, in between the boos and the suspension in Paris, was when he went back to Argentina as the conquering hero for two victory lap friendlies against Panama and Curacao. He broke through the 100-goal barrier at international level and lapped up unending acclaim.
Instead of all the options of probably diminishing returns outlined above, why not use Argentina’s June friendlies as a glorious swansong? An opportunity for the greatest to walk off into a golden sunset while still great, with nothing left to prove and thousands of memories to treasure. It’d be perfect.
READ: MESSI & RONALDO: DESTINATION MUNDIAL | THE FULL SERIES
