Messi, Lionel

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      Lionel Messi Ventures Into Charted Territory

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      The Argentine star’s signing is seen as a way to push soccer into the American mainstream. But it’s already there.Tempting Lionel Messi to the United States could not solely be a matter of money. The money had to be right, of course. It had to be competitive. It was, Jorge Mas knew, perfectly possible that his attempt to persuade Messi, the greatest player of his generation, to sign for Inter Miami would fail because of money. But it would not succeed because of it. Not exclusively, anyway.Nor, really, could Mas rely entirely on the other selling point he had identified as a possible advantage. Miami would appeal to Messi’s family, that was true. He and his wife, Antonella, already owned property there. His sons liked it. There was a strong, proud Argentine community in South Florida that could provide him with the maté and the facturas and the asado he required.And while Miami could not offer Messi complete anonymity — he would still be mobbed when he went to the grocery store — it could offer him a version of normalcy in which it was theoretically possible for him to go to the grocery store in the first place. That, Mas was sure, would be appealing, but it could not be the whole appeal.Instead, over the yearslong span of his courtship of Messi — Mas has said that he first hatched the idea in 2019, and has spent no little time since manifesting it into being — he chose to emphasize something else.This, he repeatedly told Jorge Messi, the player’s father, agent and maven, was his son’s chance to leave a unique legacy. “When, in the history of a sport is there the possibility of changing the sport of a country?” Mas asked Jorge Messi. His son, Mas said, had the “opportunity and ability to change soccer in the United States, in the largest commercial market in the world.”This week, Mas at last had the moment that vindicated not only all of his labor, but the nature of his pitch. In the pouring rain at the DRV-PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, he could finally present Messi not just as an Inter Miami player, but as what he called “America’s No. 10.”True, there is work to be done. Soccer stadiums are called things like the Parc des Princes and San Paolo. It is wholly unacceptable that Messi might retire at something called the “DRV-PNK Stadium,” particularly considering that it is in Fort Lauderdale.But still, Mas sensed that he was standing on the cusp of something epochal. For soccer in the United States, he said, there would always be “a before and an after Messi.”Lionel Messi with the team that brought him to America: Jorge Mas, Jose Mas and David Beckham.Rebecca Blackwell/Associated PressThis is, of course, a leitmotif in the story of soccer in the United States. It is a sport in constant search of its moment of ignition. At some point, the theory runs, the world’s game will assume its natural position at the top of the American sporting pyramid. Mas, doubtless, is sincere in his belief that the arrival of Messi will — at the very least — accelerate that process.It goes without saying, too, that soccer in the U.S. still has plenty of room for growth. Some of those areas are tangible, or at least demonstrable: Attendances — not helped by the fact that some teams in Major League Soccer do not play in soccer-specific arenas — and audience figures and sponsorship revenues can all increase substantially.Mexico would doubtless claim to be home to the highest-caliber domestic league in North America. M.L.S. certainly has some way to go before it can consider itself a peer of Ligue 1 in France, say, let alone the Premier League.And some of categories for growth are more intangible. Soccer does not yet have the grip on the American psyche that the N.F.L. can muster, for example. It is not as central to the culture as the N.B.A. It does not command the same sort of affection as baseball. It still feels, in many ways, far younger and far newer than it really ought to feel, especially this deep into its ascendant phase.For all that it is agreed that soccer in the United States needs to grow, though, at some point it is probably worth pausing and reflecting on what the actual target might be.Soccer, like all European cultural artifacts, has long been obsessed with cracking America, the place that has come to be seen as its final frontier. And plenty of people in the U.S. have spent vast swaths of their time working out how to make soccer happen. Nobody, though, has quite defined what success might look like.Messi needed no introduction in Miami.Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe landscape into which Messi descended this week, for example, is vastly different from the one David Beckham — his forerunner turned employer — encountered when he arrived in Los Angeles in 2007. At that stage, M.L.S. consisted of only 13 teams. Toronto F.C. marked the league’s first, ginger outreach into Canada. It was still not uncommon to hear discussion of whether the entire business would survive.Messi, on the other hand, finds himself entering a competition that now sprawls across much of a continent, from Vancouver to New York, Montreal to Miami. M.L.S. now has 29 teams, with a 30th, based in San Diego, set to be drafted into the league in 2025. It has an innovative, potentially lucrative streaming deal with Apple TV+ that served as a core part of the league’s pitch to Messi. The question is not whether M.L.S. will pull through. It is whether it has been a little too eager to acquiesce to all of those teams and all of those cities lobbying for expansion.Far more significant, though, is the game’s imprint on the United States as a whole. Soccer is now the second-largest participation sport in the United States, behind only basketball. One Gallup poll found that more people regard it as their “favorite” sport, whatever that means, than would say the same about ice hockey. Last year, the FIFA video game outsold Mario Kart and at least one edition of Call of Duty.Will Ferrell, Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera and LeBron James all own portions of teams, either at home or abroad. Soccer is referenced on Modern Family and (the dearly departed) “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” It is hard to find a picture of Drake not wearing some team’s jersey. Kim Kardashian single-handedly taught millions of Americans about the greatness of Vincent Candela and Aldair when she was pictured wearing a vintage Roma jersey. That is not an afterthought: It is what cultural cut-through looks like.All five of Europe’s major leagues have television deals in the United States. NBC has, in no small part, used its multiyear Premier League offering as a backbone for its Peacock streaming service. Fox, ABC, ESPN, Paramount, CBS, Univision and Discovery all broadcast soccer.Messi made his Inter Miami debut on Friday night.Rebecca Blackwell/Associated PressRobert Lipsyte, once a titan of these pages, might have bemoaned last week that European soccer does not have the same “emotional” impact to someone in Brooklyn as the fate of the Nets or the Mets might, but the evidence would suggest there are plenty of people who might disagree with him.By many measure, in other words, soccer has made it in America. It has the toehold in the United States that it has always craved. To borrow from the wrestling parlance of last week’s newsletter, the sport has got over, and spectacularly.That the sport does not perceive it that way — that it still feels as if this is a land to be conquered — might be to do with sheer, naked greed. Or it might be to do with just how accustomed it is to a monopoly position. Across most of the world, soccer is inarguably the national game, the sport of choice, by such a distance that everything else pales in comparison.In those countries where it encounters resistance, then — in the United States and Australia, with their established quadrumvirates of major sports, in particular, as well as India and Pakistan, where cricket remains king — anything less than total obliteration of any opposition is treated as failure. Soccer confuses popularity with primacy.That approach, though, is infused with futility. The Women’s World Cup this summer will, ideally, make more Australians like soccer. It will not make anyone turn away from Australian Rules Football to do so. Messi’s presence in the U.S. will expand the sport’s cultural reach. It is unlikely to affect viewership for the Super Bowl.It is not a zero sum game. You do not only have to like one sport. Soccer can get bigger in the United States, of course. Messi’s glamour, his star power, the brilliant white heat of his talent will help pull in new viewers and, slowly, turn them into fans. There are always more hearts and minds to win, more eyeballs to retain.Much of the work, though, has already been done. The change has already happened. Soccer has made it in the United States. As Mas might put it, we left the before behind long ago. We are already in the after, and have been for some time.Cruel BlowSam Kerr’s Instagram post, published only a couple of hours before Australia’s opening game at the World Cup on Thursday, was written in what can be recognized as the striker’s straightforward, matter-of-fact style. She had picked up a calf injury. She would loved to have been available for the match with Ireland. That would not be possible.The aim, surely, was to project an air that this was — to use the technical term — no biggie. Kerr did not want to be a distraction from a game her country has been anticipating for years. Still, her absence will have sent a shiver of anxiety through those fans heading to Stadium Australia. This was supposed to be Kerr’s tournament, after all, her chance to stage a “Cathy Freeman moment” of her very own.Of substantially greater concern, though, was the statement published not long afterward by Australia’s medical staff, the one that said Kerr would miss the first two games of the tournament. That would be just about tolerable: Tony Gustavsson’s team should be good enough to see off Nigeria, just as it had Ireland.Sam Kerr will miss at least the first two games at the World Cup.Carl Recine/ReutersThe really bad news was in the fine print. The extent of Kerr’s injury will be assessed only after Thursday’s meeting with Nigeria in Brisbane. There is no guarantee, in other words, that Kerr will be fit in time to play in the group stage at all. It is not an exaggeration to say she will struggle to be in peak condition much before the tournament’s final rounds. And that is far from a worst-case scenario.That is, of course, devastating not only for Kerr, but for Australia as a whole. In the buildup to the tournament, she has been more than willing to absorb expectation, to shoulder the burden of hope. It is to her credit that it does not seem to faze her in the slightest.And yet that role carries with it a cost: It is not just the country that has a tendency to look to Kerr for inspiration, but the team itself. Australia with Kerr is a potential world champion; Australia’s case without her is not nearly so convincing. Its fans know that, and so do its players. They, more than anyone else, will be hoping that the tone of her message was meaningful, that the injury really is no biggie.Psychological EdgeAs the World Cup has drawn closer, that part of The New York Times’ sports department that is based in Europe — all three of us — has been cleft into factions.One is very much of the view that the United States will, ultimately, lift a third World Cup in a row over the course of the next month. One believes that is hopelessly optimistic, and has taken to making dread prophesies of round-of-16 exits at the hands of Sweden. (Tariq has claimed, again and again, that “predictions are the preserve of the hubristic and the small-minded.”)These groups do not align along national grounds. I have no vested interest in the U.S.’s success: As demonstrated by my outright refusal to use the word “cleats,” I am not American. It is clear that this iteration of the national team is not as strong as those that emerged victorious in 2015 and 2019.Alex Morgan, standard bearer (in person) and statue (in New York).Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesIt is, instead, effectively two teams slightly clumsily stitched together: one from yesterday, taking part in what is in some senses a valedictory tour, and one for tomorrow, fizzing with energy and rich with promise. Teams that win tournaments exist in a Goldilocks zone, neither too young or too old. The Americans are both.And yet — with the U.S., there is always an “and yet” — the U.S. retains a psychological edge over almost every opponent it faces. Particularly during World Cups, it has an aura, the sort that can only be acquired over a generation, or more.Teams do not have to beat the U.S. as it is; they have to beat the U.S. as they perceive them to be. They have to overcome their own admiration of the jersey, as much as the players that now fill them. That is a powerful advantage for the U.S. Whether it will be enough, of course, neither faction knows, not really.CorrespondenceIt has been an educational week in the inbox. Michael Markman reminded me of something I did know, once, a long time ago: “The grammarian term for a base word that functions as either a noun or a verb is a gerund,” he wrote. (I had always assumed it was a participle that served as a noun, but I am willing to be corrected.)Someone only identifying as Red, meanwhile, informed me of something that I did not know at all. (And, I think, had no real reason to know.) What has come to be termed “generational wealth” lasts only for three generations, they wrote, in reference to Jordan Henderson’s looming move to Saudi Arabia. “That is the average of new wealth for the past 200 years.” I mean, whichever way you look at it, three generations is quite a long time. Maybe not a monument more everlasting than bronze, but definitely not bad.There were two subjects that dominated, though. One was your sincere, and sincerely appreciated, concern for the fate of this newsletter, and the mutually educational space it has fostered in the last few years. I won’t reproduce them out of deep-seated bashfulness, but suffice to say they were received with immense gratitude.And the other was the validity of parallels between soccer and professional wrestling (a vague existential uncertainty generates quite an exciting, devil-may-care freedom, I have found.) “Is the prime example of this not the transfer market?” asked Todd Reid, knowing the answer to his question was, “Well, yes.”“It consumes as much, if not more, energy and coverage than matches themselves,” he wrote. “And add in the Saudi Arabia story line, and it’s a morality play set on the global stage, discussed and debated whether or not anyone ever actually watches a Saudi League match or not.”There was a welcome reminder from Richard Duran on generalizations, too. “Not everyone reads the constant chatter about transfers, wages, Saudi involvement. I choose to enjoy soccer while the clock is running and it is still a beautiful game.” This is an admirable approach, and a legitimate correction. To some extent, though, how the industry that surrounds soccer presents the sport is as significant as how people choose to consume it.And finally, Mark Harris has arrived, asking for a little bit of self-reflection. “How ironic that you don’t perceive that you are one of the prime instruments in pushing the behind the scenes stories over the actual sport,” he wrote. “Read the last year or so of your articles and tell me if I’m right.”This is a charge I probably cannot deny, admittedly, but I’m going to take it as a compliment. Nobody has ever called me a prime instrument before. Not even when they’re really angry with me.That’s all for this week, and for a little while: Remember, this newsletter will graciously cede the limelight to our daily World Cup briefing for the next few weeks. You should subscribe. We know, after all, that you like soccer and you like receiving newsletters. It’s basically a product designed with you in mind. I’ll be writing it sometimes. But you should subscribe anyway. More

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      Lionel Messi Gives M.L.S. First Taste of the Weight of His Star

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      One day after Messi’s contract with Inter Miami became official, the club presented him to fans in a rain-soaked stadium and on the league’s streaming platform.Just before 9 p.m. on Sunday, the greatest soccer player of his era, and maybe the greatest of all time, walked across a makeshift stage in his new home stadium. He hugged the owners of his new team, including the former star David Beckham. As he held his new jersey — a pink No. 10 — Lionel Messi grinned and looked up at the crowd and the fireworks.If it has felt like a dream that Messi, who won the World Cup in December as Argentina’s captain and who has claimed seven Ballons d’Or as the world’s best player, chose Inter Miami of M.L.S. as his team for the twilight of his career, his unveiling event was proof that, yes, this has actually happened.“Before anything, I want to give thanks to Miami for this reception and the kindness since I arrived to the city,” Messi said in Spanish in his first public comments since his monumental deal, which runs through the 2025 M.L.S. season, was announced on Saturday. “To be honest, I’m very emotional and very happy to be here in Miami and to be with you.”For two minutes, Messi, 36, spoke directly to the Inter Miami fans who chanted his surname throughout the night at DRV PNK Stadium, about 30 miles north of downtown Miami. Messi’s introduction was called La PresentaSíon, or the Presentation in Spanish, but with “Sí” (“Yes”) emphasized. And in typical South Florida fashion, it took place in the rain.In choosing Miami, where he owns property, Messi turned down a chance to play in Saudi Arabia, where a team had offered him significantly more money. He also declined the possibility of returning to Barcelona, where he signed at 13, won every major trophy and wanted to remain before moving to Paris-St. Germain in 2021.Long before Messi’s time in France came to an unceremonious end this summer, the owners of Inter Miami had dreamed of bringing him to South Florida. The event on Sunday and the weeks leading up to it have shown how much of a jolt Messi has already provided to the franchise, the region and soccer in the United States.“There will always be a before and after Lionel Messi,” said Jorge Mas, the Cuban American billionaire and managing owner of Inter Miami, which played its inaugural season in 2020.David Beckham, part of Inter Miami’s ownership, once made a similar move to M.L.S., joining the L.A. Galaxy as a player in 2007.Saul Martinez for The New York Times“We are recipients of the legacy of the greatest player in the world that started at Newell’s Old Boys, went to Barcelona, ended at P.S.G.,” Mas continued, listing Messi’s previous teams, including his youth team in Argentina. “But today it sits in the hands of Inter Miami and its fans. This is our moment. Our moment to change the football landscape in this country.”The rain subsided by the time Messi spoke, but a torrential downpour hindered the early festivities and flooded parts of this interim stadium. (Inter Miami hopes to move to a proposed new stadium near Miami International Airport in 2025.) On Sunday, the 19,000-seat stadium certainly didn’t have the size or energy of Camp Nou in Barcelona or Parc des Princes in Paris, but most fans donned team or Messi gear. One shirtless fan waved a huge flag featuring Messi in an Argentina jersey. Argentina jerseys were the second most popular clothing choice, with a few fans wearing Messi’s Barcelona shirt.The celebration, broadcast globally in English and Spanish on Apple TV+, M.L.S.’s first-year streaming partner, with a few glitches, purposefully coincided with halftime of the Concacaf Gold Cup final, which Mexico won by 1-0 over Panama.Before Messi addressed the crowd, Mas and Beckham spoke. Beckham, an Englishman who famously signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy of M.L.S. in 2007, read his prepared comments from his cellphone, sprinkling in some Spanish. Mas used both languages for the entirety of his address. Miami, after all, is the unofficial capital of Latin America, and Florida has the largest Argentine community in the United States.“I know that the people of South Florida will take you all into their hearts,” Beckham said. “We are building a special club here at Inter Miami, a club that represents this special place and its people.”Inter Miami pink and Argentina blue dominated the stands in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesBefore Messi appeared, Beckham introduced the team’s second marquee signing of the summer, Sergio Busquets, Messi’s former teammate at Barcelona. Busquets spoke, too, but briefly. The night, imperfect and all, belonged to Messi.Not known for being loquacious, Messi was concise on Sunday. Wearing a white Inter Miami T-shirt and jeans, he thanked the team’s ownership group for making him and his family feel welcome. He said he hoped fans would keep watching and growing with the team.“I have a lot of desire to start training and to compete,” said Messi, who joins a team in last place in M.L.S.’s Eastern Conference. “I came with a desire to always compete and want to win.”Messi also thanked his teammates, several of whom were on the field.“I’m very happy to have chosen to come to this city with my family and to have chosen this project,” he said. “I don’t have a doubt that we’ll enjoy it and we’ll have a good time and beautiful things will happen.”After Messi handed over the microphone, a video played on the big screen featuring many celebrities, such as the retired Argentine basketball star Manu Ginóbili and the Miami residents Gloria and Emilio Estefan, welcoming Messi to town and wishing him luck. Then the families of Messi and the owners joined them onstage for photos. Musical acts followed.Afterward, Messi signed autographs for fans in the stands. Tuesday is his first official training session with his teammates, and Friday will be his first game. This is his new home. More

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      Lionel Messi Signs With Inter Miami and M.L.S.

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      Messi is expected to join the team this week on a contract that runs through the 2025 Major League Soccer season.The greatest soccer player of his era, and maybe the greatest of all time, is coming to the United States for the twilight of his career. Lionel Messi, 36, officially joined Inter Miami of Major League Soccer, the club announced in a release on Saturday.His contract commits him to the team through the 2025 M.L.S. season.“I’m very excited to start this next step in my career with Inter Miami and in the United States,” Messi said in a statement. “This is a fantastic opportunity and together we will continue to build this beautiful project.”Messi had revealed his plans to play for Miami last month and was spotted shopping with his family at a Miami-area grocery this week.He is expected to join the team in the next week, which would put him on track to make his debut for Inter Miami in a Concacaf Leagues Cup game against Cruz Azul of Mexico on July 21.A soccer prodigy as a child in Argentina, Messi moved to Spain to sign with Barcelona at age 13 and soon became a talked about young player. He made his debut with the first team at 16 and went on to a spectacular career, winning every major trophy and six Ballons d’Or as the world’s best player. He moved on to Paris-St. Germain in 2021, where he won another Ballon d’Or, and his team dominated the French league, although it failed to win the Champions League.He has been the leader of the Argentine national team almost since his 2005 debut, and added the final trophy missing from his collection when he won the World Cup with them last summer.The consensus of fans and historians has been that his greatness as a player is rivaled perhaps only by Cristiano Ronaldo in his own era and by Pelé and Diego Maradona from any era.Messi’s signing completes what could be described as the quiet Barcelona-fication of Inter Miami that preceded his formal arrival. The team’s chief business officer and its top operations and facilities executive are both former Barcelona employees. Last month, Inter Miami announced that Messi’s former midfield teammate at Barcelona, Sergio Busquets, would be its second marquee signing of the summer.Then, two weeks ago, Gerardo Martino, the Argentine known as Tata who had coached Messi at Barcelona, was hired as Inter Miami’s coach. At his introductory news conference, he spoke openly of working with Messi and Busquets, and left little doubt that he saw his new challenge as more than a reunion.“Sometimes we associate the United States, Miami, are linked with the idea of a vacation,” Martino said. “This isn’t that. We want to compete.“They are not players who are going to come here to not compete.”The signing is reminiscent of 2007, when Los Angeles Galaxy of M.L.S. signed the world’s most famous player, if not the best, David Beckham, at age 32. Beckham played in L.A. for six years, winning two championships, and brought the league unprecedented exposure.M.L.S. has long spoken of eventually matching the quality and visibility of the world’s top leagues. It will hope that Lionel Messi’s golden years help push it in that direction. More

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      Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabia and a Contract to Promote the Kingdom

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      A contract between Messi and Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority offers a glimpse at the details of their multimillion-dollar relationship.As the sun set over a seemingly endless expanse of open sea, Lionel Messi took a seat at the edge of a boat, stretched out a leg and posed for the photograph that would announce the beginning of his public partnership with Saudi Arabia.The image, shared with Messi’s 400 million-plus followers on Instagram on May 9, 2022, was accompanied by a dual-language caption that read, “Discovering the Red Sea #VisitSaudi.” Hours earlier, he had been welcomed to the kingdom by Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister, who had boasted on Twitter that while it was Messi’s first visit to the country, “it will not be the last.”Messi, who is regarded perhaps as global soccer’s greatest player, was starting to cash in on the new partnership: His photo-op in the Red Sea likely earned him approximately $2 million, the first step in fulfilling his agreement with the kingdom that is worth millions more.The details of Messi’s role as a well-compensated pitchman for Saudi Arabia are contained in a previously undisclosed version of his contract with the tourism authority that was reviewed by the The New York Times.The contract shows that Messi could receive as much as 22.5 million euros, about $25 million, over three years for little actual work: a few commercial appearances, a handful of social media posts and some all-expenses-paid vacations to the kingdom with his family and children. He is expected to share images of those trips — marked with a Saudi-approved hashtag — with his vast online following.But the document also contains a condition important to Saudi officials: Messi cannot say anything that might “tarnish” Saudi Arabia, a country that has faced widespread criticism for its human rights record.Those details of the arrangement with Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina in December, offer an inside glimpse of the oil-rich kingdom’s use of its wealth to enlist marquee athletes in its effort to burnish its global image. Saudi Arabia’s critics deride the strategy as sportswashing: using sports and sports figures to whitewash the country’s human rights record, its treatment of women, its killing of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and other authoritarian actions.For the past few years, Saudi Arabia has spent billions to take big stakes in professional sports: The purchase of a Premier League soccer team. Championship boxing matches. A stop on the Formula 1 auto racing schedule. And, most recently, a brazen incursion into professional golf.The kingdom has offered hundreds of millions of dollars more to lure Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and dozens of other soccer stars to play in the country’s domestic league. Messi recently declined a similar offer, choosing instead to join Inter Miami of Major League Soccer in the United States. But there’s no sign so far that the decision has affected his relationship with the Saudis. Indeed, he has seemed eager to stay in their good graces.In February 2021, just weeks after he signed his contract, Messi wrote a letter to Saudi’s tourism minister, apologizing for being unable to make a scheduled visit. In the previously unreported letter, Messi addressed the tourism minister, Ahmed al-Khateeb, as “Your Excellency” and, in unusually flowery prose, expressed his “deepest regrets” for his absence. Messi was then playing for F.C. Barcelona, and he wrote that as “a sportsman,” he had obligations that were impossible to skip: a league game against Real Betis followed by a match in the Spanish cup.Messi was suspended from Paris St.-Germain after he took a trip to Saudi Arabia that was not authorized by the team.Aurelien Morissard/Associated PressThe Saudis got their visits eventually. The most recent came last month, a year after his first Saudi tourism post on Instagram, when Messi took a quick, midseason vacation to the kingdom — which, like all of his previous visits, would have yielded him a seven-figure payday under the terms of his Saudi tourism contract.By then, Messi had left Barcelona and was playing for the French team Paris St.-Germain. When he returned from his Saudi sojourn, the French club suspended him for what it deemed an unauthorized absence from training. Messi apologized to his team and its fans with an explanation that suggested the trip was not optional: “I couldn’t cancel it.”Until now, the details of Messi’s contract with the tourism authority have been a closely held secret. It is not clear if the contract reviewed by The Times is the current version of the deal. It was shared by someone with direct knowledge of the arrangement between Messi and the Saudis on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to divulge details of the deal. The document, dated Jan. 1, 2021, was signed by Messi and his brother Rodrigo, who serves as his business manager, but it is not signed by Saudi officials.The terms outlined in the document are consistent with the way Messi has used his social media accounts to promote the kingdom, and also with the promotional visits he has made to the country.The contract is specific about Messi’s obligations, and about the money to be paid for fulfilling each one:About $2 million, nearly 1.8 million euros, for a minimum of one family vacation annually lasting five days, or alternately two annual vacations of three days each. The travel expenses and five-star accommodations were to be paid by the Saudi government for Messi and up to 20 family members and friends.Another $2 million for promoting Saudi Arabia on his social media accounts 10 times a year, separately from the promotion of his vacations to the kingdom.About $2 million more to participate in an annual tourism campaign. (He and the Saudi authority shared the first campaign, an elaborately shot desert video, in November.)Another $2 million for charitable work and appearances.Few people were willing to discuss the terms of Messi’s deal. Pablo Negre Abello, who is responsible for Messi’s commercial deals, cited confidentiality clauses written into all of Messi’s contracts. Abello suggested that a Times reporter contact the tourism authority. Officials there did not respond to multiple requests for comment.Rayco García Cabrera, a former soccer player who brokered the meeting between Messi’s management and Saudi officials, including the minister of tourism, said the deal was worth “a small amount” compared with the huge salaries the country is paying stars like Ronaldo and Benzema. But, García said, Messi agreed to be a tourism spokesman because “he believes in Saudi and the vision of Saudi.”“I was in the middle of this,” García added, “and I was so surprised when Messi didn’t ask for a huge amount.” García said he did not know the precise terms of the agreement.A review of Messi’s social media postings and travel show him seemingly fulfilling the terms of his contract. His Instagram account — with 470 million followers, it is one of the largest on the platform — has featured a regular stream of Saudi messaging and photographs. On his visit in May, Messi was photographed with his wife and children participating in a variety of family activities: petting horses with his sons, playing games at an arcade and sitting with a craft artist while holding a woven hat.During his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Messi appeared in photographs with his family.Saudi Ministry of Tourism, via ReutersThe photographs were then distributed to the news media by the tourism ministry.Saudi Ministry of Tourism, via ReutersIn 2021, amid news reports linking Messi and Saudi Arabia, family members of Saudi dissidents urged the player to reject the endorsement offer that he eventually accepted. In an open letter, they pleaded with him by writing, “The Saudi regime wants to use you to launder its reputation.”Saudi officials have rejected that charge. Messi, meanwhile, has made no mention of it. Instead, he has expressed wonder at the natural beauty to be found in Saudi Arabia.One of Messi’s recent posts is a picture of the kingdom’s date palm groves and other natural attractions. The caption reads: “Who thought Saudi has so much green?” More

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      Saudi Soccer League Creates Huge Fund to Sign Global Stars

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      A coordinated effort financed by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund is offering huge paydays to some of the sport’s biggest stars if they join Saudi Arabia’s best teams.The lists have been drawn up and the financing secured. Saudi Arabia is looking to lure some of the world’s best known soccer players to join Cristiano Ronaldo in its national league. And to close the deals, it is relying on money, the one commodity it knows it can offer more of than any of its rival leagues.Similar in ambition to the Saudi-financed campaign to dominate golf through the new LIV series, the plan appears to be a centralized effort — supported at the highest levels in Saudi Arabia, and financed by the kingdom’s huge sovereign wealth fund — to turn the country’s domestic league, a footnote on the global soccer stage, into a destination for top talent.To make that happen, Saudi clubs are already approaching players receptive to moving to the kingdom with some of the highest annual salaries in sports history. The deals could require in excess of $1 billion for wages for some 20 foreign players.Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time world player of the year, has led the way. He joined the Saudi club Al-Nassr after the 2022 World Cup, in a deal reported to be worth $200 million per season. Last month, Al-Nassr narrowly missed out on the league championship on the penultimate week of the season, but for those running the Saudi league Ronaldo’s presence alone was a victory in that it ensured unprecedented attention on the country’s top division, the Saudi Premier League.Cristiano Ronaldo signed with the Saudi club Al-Nassr after the World Cup in Qatar.Ahmed Yosri/ReutersSince Ronaldo arrived, the Saudi league has been considering whether to centrally coordinate more big-money signings in order to distribute talent evenly among the biggest teams, according to interviews with agents, television executives, Saudi sports officials and consultants hired to execute the project, the details of which have not previously been reported. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deals involved were private.In recent weeks, leaks about huge offers to famous players have mounted: Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in December, is said to have been tempted by a contract even richer than Ronaldo’s Saudi deal; and the French striker Karim Benzema, the reigning world player of the year, has reportedly agreed to leave Real Madrid for a nine-figure deal to play in Saudi Arabia.The Saudi league’s British chief executive, Garry Cook, a former Nike executive who briefly ran Manchester City after it was bought by the brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, has been tasked with executing the plans. Cook did not respond to an email seeking comment. League officials also did not respond to requests for comment about the plans.The project comes on the heels of a surprisingly strong performance by Saudi Arabia at last year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar. The team’s run included a stunning victory over the eventual champion, Argentina, which stoked pride on the Saudi streets and in the halls of power in Riyadh. The project’s goal is not so much to make the Saudi league an equal of century-old competitions like England’s Premier League or other top European competitions, but to increase Saudi influence in the sport, and perhaps boost its profile as it bids for the 2030 World Cup.But the effort also is reminiscent of a similar scheme a decade ago in which China sought to force its way into the global soccer conversation through a series of high-profile and high-dollar acquisitions. That bold plan, eventually marred by broken contracts, economic implosions and the coronavirus pandemic, is now seemingly at an end.The plans for the Saudi league to become the dominant domestic competition in Asia are similarly subject to the whims of the country’s leadership, and could yet be derailed by a sudden change of direction, or an ability to sign the kind of elite talents being pursued. The players, too, would be committing to contracts with teams that in the past have been regular attendees at arbitration hearings claiming unpaid fees and salaries.According to the interviews with people familiar with the project, the league, and not the clubs, would centrally negotiate player transfers and assign players to certain teams, in a model similar to one used by Major League Soccer as it built its global profile. Centralized signings would be a departure from what is typical in much of the rest of the world, where clubs directly acquire and trade players independently.The size of the Saudi war chest is unclear, but officials briefed on the subject say it is as hefty as the list of players the league has identified as potential recruits. Much of the money invested in the league and the clubs in recent times has come from the Public Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund chaired by the kingdom’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.The fund has signed 20-year commercial agreements worth tens of millions of dollars with the four most popular clubs in the Saudi Premier League. Those deals will require the teams, two from Riyadh and two from the port city of Jeddah, to play games at new arenas in entertainment complexes being built by PIF subsidiaries. The PIF also sponsors the league itself through one of the companies in its portfolio, the real estate developer Roshn.A fan shopping for an Al-Hilal jersey in May, after published reports that the Argentina star Lionel Messi was considering signing with the decorated Saudi club.Ahmed Yosri/ReutersAccording to one of the people briefed on the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly, the goal is for the four biggest teams to field three top foreign players each, and for another eight players to be distributed among the remaining 12 teams in the league.The move for greater centralization of the league would end a period of autonomy granted to the clubs, and is further indication of the Saudi state’s interest in using sports as part of a drive to alter perceptions of the kingdom on the global stage, and diversify its economy away from oil. Saudi Arabia has been among the biggest spenders in global sports in recent years, bringing major events to the kingdom and investing in sports properties.PIF has been the driving force behind much of that, too. Two years ago it acquired Newcastle United, an English Premier League club, and through its funding and smart recruitment helped it to achieve its best league finish in decades and a place in next season’s Champions League. The Saudi oil company, Aramco, is a major sponsor of the Formula 1 auto racing series. But perhaps the PIF’s splashiest efforts have been in golf, where it has poured billions into creating LIV, the rival competition to the established tours in North America and EuropeAll of those projects have attracted scrutiny amid claims Saudi Arabia is using its investments in sports to divert attention from its human rights record. But the golf series, in particular, has shown that Saudi Arabia’s interest in sports may not be deterred even if the promised financial bonanza does not arrive. And Saudi officials have vigorously denied “sportswashing” allegations, arguing that some of the motivations behind their push into global sports include catering to their sports-loving population and encouraging greater physical activity in a country where obesity and diabetes are common.Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, watching the King’s Cup final between Al-Hilal and Al-Wehda in May.Saudi Press Agency/via ReutersDiscussions with potential soccer recruits and their agents are underway. Saudi Arabia’s sudden and cash-soaked presence is likely to create further chaos in soccer’s typically frenzied summer trading window, which typically runs from June through August.Beefing up the four best teams may not be universally popular in the kingdom which has its own rich soccer history and where the sport is passionately followed. Teams not considered to be counted in the elite group are already expressing frustration at the prospect of being left behind.The sense of unfairness has been felt most visibly at Al-Shabab, the third-largest club in the capital, Riyadh, which has had to contend with living in the shadows of its prominent rivals Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal and their two Jeddah-based counterparts, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli.“I have buried the ‘big four’ myth with my own hands,” the Al-Shabab president Khalid al-Baltan told reporters at the end of last season, when Al-Ahli was relegated to the second division for the first time in its history. Al-Baltan’s team dominated the Saudi league in the 1990s, when it was home to stars such as Fuad Anwar Amin and Saeed al-Owairan, who led Saudi Arabia to the knockout stage in the kingdom’s first World Cup appearance in 1994.While Saudi Arabia’s ministry of sports is currently funding a major renovation of Al-Shabab stadium in northern Riyadh, al-Baltan has complained bitterly about a lack of support — while taking care to avoid criticizing the government or the PIF by name.“The gap is getting too large, the financial situation does not allow us to compete with other clubs,” al-Baltan said during a news conference last week, as he wondered aloud how Al-Shabab was supposed to compete when Ronaldo’s salary for one season is four times the size of his club’s annual budget.“Am I expected to close that huge gap myself?” he asked. “My car is a small Japanese sedan, and I’m somehow expected to race against Lamborghinis and Ferraris. If I don’t win then I’m bad? This is not logical.” More

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      PSG or Lens: Who Had the Better Season?

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      P.S.G. will win another French title this year, and Lens won’t win a thing. But it’s worth asking: Who had the better season?Briuce Samba was trying, as best he could, to share the crowning glory of his career with his wife. The goalkeeper’s road to stardom had been a circuitous one. By Samba time he was 24, he had played only a handful of senior games. He spent the next few years toiling in the second divisions of France and England.Now, though, it had all paid off. In March, not long before his 29th birthday, Samba was told he had been selected for France’s squad for its upcoming European Championship qualifiers. He would be sharing a changing room with Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and the rest. He would wear the No. 1 jersey.Naturally, it was an achievement Samba wanted to celebrate with his wife, Jessica. He called her on FaceTime to revel in the moment together, but it did not — by his own admission — really work. He was, as he put it in an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Équipe, too busy being “jumped on” by his delighted teammates at his club team, R.C. Lens.Samba’s long-awaited call-up has not been the only thing Lens has had to celebrate in the last few months. He was probably exaggerating when he suggested this has been the “best season the club has had in 120 years” — an assertion that the 1998 team, which won the French title, might reject — but not by much.Lens won’t win the French title, or any other trophy. But it has still been a fantastic season.Francois Lo Presti/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThanks in no small part to Samba, a key element in the most miserly defense in France, Lens started the season with a nine-game unbeaten run. It did not lose its second game until the start of February. It beat Monaco in Monte Carlo, Marseille in Marseille and then swept past Paris St.-Germain on home turf.Thierry Henry, no less, described Lens as the best team to watch in France. “It is contagious when you see a team going forward, fighting together, regardless of the starting 11,” he said. As late as April, the Lens manager, Franck Haise, was being asked if his team — constructed on a shoestring by modern standards — had a chance of winning the title. “We can always dream,” he said. “We’re not going to forbid ourselves anything.”In the end, that will most likely prove a step too far. Lens is currently six points behind P.S.G. with only five games to play. The emphasis now, for Haise, is on beating second-place Marseille again on Saturday and securing a place in the Champions League for the first time in two decades.The title, as was always probable, will be returning to Paris. When it gets there, though, it will find a club in a starkly different mood to Lens.Angry Paris St.-Germain fans protested outside the club’s offices and a few players’ homes on Wednesday.Mohammed Badra/EPA, via ShutterstockThese are troubled times at P.S.G., though whether it is more troubled than any of the other times is not clear. Lionel Messi, the greatest player of all time, the jewel of the Qatari project to transform the club into a genuine European superpower, is currently on two weeks’ unpaid suspension, having traveled without permission to Saudi Arabia for a family vacation.(“Who thought Saudi has so much green?” Messi asked his 458 million Instagram followers this week. The answer, presumably, is “anyone who has seen your contract with the Saudi Tourism Authority.”)In the circumstances, it seems reasonably unlikely that he will be signing a new contract when he returns to Paris. Few will mourn his departure: not Messi, who has always given the impression that his relationship with the club has been emotionless, transactional; not the club, which can now part with him at no financial or emotional cost; and not the P.S.G. fans, who have spent most of the last five months jeering him at every opportunity.That will not be the summer’s only departure. A clutch of P.S.G. players, carrying the can for yet another year of disappointment in the Champions League, will be shipped out to make room for new signings.There is the lingering possibility that Neymar may be among them; it is possible that Kylian Mbappé, his relationship with the club’s hierarchy once again strained, might find his feet itching once again. Christophe Galtier, the manager, will not be around to coach, whatever happens. That job will go, instead, to whoever P.S.G. can find to manage them who is not Christophe Galtier.Winning yet another French title will make no difference to any of that. The club’s fans will be pleased, of course, by the passing of another year in which none of its rivals had any cause to celebrate. But it is hard to discern any emotion approaching genuine joy. This is just how things are now.P.S.G.’s Big Three (for the moment): Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.Carl Recine/Action Images, via ReutersThis will, after all, be P.S.G.’s ninth French title in 11 years. It does not matter who the coach is. It scarcely matters who the players are. It makes no difference if the team is good, or bad, attractive, ugly, interesting, dull. It can win the league when it is riddled with dysfunction, falling apart behind the scenes. It can win the league when nobody is enjoying themselves. It can win the league and it changes nothing.In time, few at P.S.G. will remember much about this season. Not the good parts, anyway. There will be some dim recollection of Messi’s unauthorized trip, of the surprising amount of greenery in Saudi Arabia, of Galtier’s brief, unhappy stint in charge, but little else. It will blur, quickly, into nothing but a fuzzy outline of disappointment.Lens, by contrast, will end the season with nothing but happy memories, recollections of one of the finest campaigns in the club’s long history. There will be no trophy to commemorate it, but no matter. The year that Samba was called up to the France team, that Lois Openda scored all those goals, that Haise might have won something, will be etched into legend.It is tempting to ask, then, which of those two teams has experienced the better season? Which has enjoyed themselves more? Soccer is, after all, about emotions as much as it is about glory, and the emotions on offer in the heart of Pas-de-Calais seem substantially healthier than those playing out in Paris.It is, though, perhaps better to ask whether all of that wealth, all of that power, has truly made P.S.G. happy, or whether — more than a decade on from the arrival of its Qatari backers — one of the richest clubs in the world, the pre-eminent force in French soccer, the team that employs Mbappé and Messi and Neymar, might look at little old Lens and think: That looks like fun.Lens, living its best life.Francois Lo Presti/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA Test of What MattersThe journey, then, is complete. In the space of three short years, Leeds United has traversed the full range of soccer’s theoretical spectrum: from Marcelo Bielsa at one end, with his unwavering belief in spectacle and romance and aesthetics, all the way to Sam Allardyce.There is, presumably, a parable in here somewhere. More than one, perhaps. It might be an example of how revolutions can only triumph if their leaders remain loyal to their principles. Or it might illustrate how pragmatism and compromise have a habit of intruding on even the purest, the most innocent, among us. It might be that ideas do not always survive an encounter with reality. It might be that they are abandoned too quickly by the callow and the plain.Either way, Leeds now stands as a curious case study. During Bielsa’s tenure, it was not simply the outcome — promotion back to the Premier League, a top half finish — that restored pride to the team’s fans, but the methods. Leeds had a style, an identity. The club, at long last, stood for something.Big Sam: reporting for duty.Sang Tan/Associated PressAllardyce, appointed this week with the desperate, urgent task of somehow staving off relegation by sheer force of reputation, represents a permanent break with that. Allardyce is not always given the credit he deserves for the farsightedness he displayed early in his career, but he would not argue with the assertion that he is an outcome-oriented manager. He wants results. He does not much care how he gets them.Whether Leeds fans can buy into that, though, is a difficult question. They have spent the last few years, after all, cherishing the idea that the journey matters as much as the destination, internalizing the Bielsista logic that what you do is not as important as how you do it. Soccer has long believed that fans are happy if they are winning; everything else is window dressing. Leeds may provide a petri dish to find out.Please Do Not Be So Emotional, They ScreamJürgen Klopp would like to speak to the manager.Carl Recine/ReutersA torn hamstring — Grade 2C, six weeks out — was the least Jürgen Klopp deserved. His racing over to celebrate in the face of a slightly bemused and utterly undeserving fourth official in the aftermath of Liverpool’s late winning goal against Tottenham last Sunday was, without question, an inherently ugly act. The Liverpool manager will, deservedly, be punished.Severely, too, because he has form for this sort of thing. He has already served one touchline ban this season. He can expect his second to be substantially longer, partly for the flagrancy of his offense and partly because the incident — broadcast live in the Premier League’s flagship Sunday afternoon slot — was sufficiently high-profile that it has become a lightning rod for the State of Our Game. The Football Association, in these circumstances, feels compelled to look and act tough.It is not to excuse Klopp’s actions, though, to suggest that — as ever — there is something missing from the conversation. Every so often, managers, coaches, players and fans are informed in arch, censorious tones that they must control their emotions better. They must not get too angry, or too impatient, or too passionate, or even, at times, too gleeful.And yet at no point does anyone seem to connect that emotionality with the sustained pitch of frenzy laced into the rhetoric that surrounds soccer: the constant calls, on broadcasts and in print, for players to be dropped or sold or replaced; for managers to change their methods or lose their jobs; for fans to fear or rage or despair.Is it any wonder that some of the participants in the game struggle to maintain their equanimity when they are endlessly informed that their jobs are on the line, that everything except eternal victory is failure, that each and every setback is evidence, deep down, of some moral shortcoming on their part?There is a reason that exists, of course: The soccer industry thrives on controversy and debate and drama and outrage. The people passing judgment act as observers when they are, in fact, participants. Klopp deserves to be barred. He needs, obviously, to calm down. He needs to control his emotions better. He is not, though, the only one.A Step Too FarTo return to a theme: Soccer does not, as a rule, know how to gauge relative success. Arsenal’s (men’s) team will, for example, spend much of the next month or so having its very character pored over and picked apart and dredged for clues as to why, exactly, it did not win the Premier League title.The fact that this in itself represents a considerable triumph — that Arsenal was in a position to be criticized for not winning the Premier League — will receive considerably less attention.With any luck, the club’s women’s team will avoid the same fate. On Monday night, Arsenal lost at the death in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League: a single lapse, after more than two and a half hours of soccer, from Lotte Wubben-Moy that allowed Pauline Bremer to sweep Wolfsburg to a 5-4 aggregate victory.Pauline Bremer’s late goal in extra time lifted Wolfsburg over Arsenal, and into a Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona on June 3.Richard Heathcote/Getty ImagesIt would be possible, of course, to point out that the ongoing failure of the clubs of the Women’s Super League to establish some sort of competitive dominion in Europe is, given their financial edge, a substantial disappointment. Or to suggest that Arsenal, with home-field advantage and an early goal, had lacked the composure to see the game out. Or to take the path of least resistance and just blame Wubben-Moy for being caught in possession.But again: Success is relative. Arsenal made it to the last minute of extra time in the semifinals of the Champions League without its captain, Kim Little, and its three best players, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, all of them victims of long-term knee injuries. Getting so far, coming so close, in those circumstances, is not failure. It is quite the opposite.CorrespondenceNever let it be said that this newsletter does not confront the most pressing issues in sports: corruption, engagement, how to get your dog into soccer games. “I would suggest you approach a club and offer him as a mascot,” Stephen Gessner wrote. “You might have to teach him some tricks: bark when the opposition scores, growl at the referee, jump on the opposing manager.”This is a perfectly valid suggestion for most dogs. Sadly, it does not apply to my dog, who needs to be in my presence at all times for his own peace of mind and who has a steadfast objection to learning anything. He does have a natural indisposition toward authority figures, though, so he could probably tick the “growling at the referee” box.“Maybe if I wear a scarf they won’t notice.”David Klein/ReutersThe good news is that Phil Aromando might have solved the problem. “I have no idea if your dog is interested in Major League Soccer,” he wrote. (Not sure, I’ve never asked.) “But St. Louis City S.C. has just opened a pet friendly section at their stadium.” Moving to St. Louis strikes me as extreme, but also somehow more realistic than teaching him to walk at heel.I wondered, meanwhile, if we had exhausted our seam of suggestions to improve soccer, but there is still time for a couple of doses of common sense.“Why can’t incidental, or nonthreatening, handballs in the box just be punished with indirect free kicks from the spot of the infraction?” Doug Lowe asked. “It would give the team a scoring opportunity that isn’t brutally punished, as it is with a penalty.” Great question, Doug, because this seems perfectly logical to me.Adam weighed in on the need to engage the next generation of fans. “As a high school math(s) teacher,” he wrote, “I fully agree with the assertion of ‘to hell with pleasing restless, bored teenagers.’ They’re entitled enough as it is.” I have redacted Adam’s surname for his own protection, in the very unlikely event that any of his teenage students get this far into the newsletter.And finally, Lee Gillette is here with an eternal plea: Why don’t more people talk about Belgium? “As refreshing change goes, Union St.-Gilloise almost ended its first season in the top division for 48 years with a title, and it is in the running once again,” he wrote. “In Belgium’s infuriating four-team title playoff, Union is surrounded by Flemish clubs. The only Walloon club to win the title in years was in 2009, and Union hasn’t won a title since 1935.”He is quite right, of course: We have covered the club’s rise before, but Union should nevertheless have been included last week as a potential usurper to the established order. Mind you, perhaps be grateful that it slipped my mind: Dortmund, naturally enough, blew its chance at a first title in a decade at the first available opportunity. More

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      Lionel Messi’s Bitter Divorce From P.S.G.

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      The moment the private jet carrying Lionel Messi to a lucrative sponsorship engagement in Saudi Arabia taxied onto a French runway early this week, his career at Paris St.-Germain was effectively over.The suspension would come a day later. The official parting won’t happen until his contract expires in a few weeks. The blame game may go on for months.But by Wednesday there was no doubt on the main points: Messi will never play for P.S.G. again, and both the player and the club are just fine with that.The ending will not have come as a surprise to either side. Theirs had always been a business relationship, one lacking the emotional weight of Messi’s previous tenure at Barcelona. And while there had been talks about renewing the forward’s contract in the weeks and months after Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title in December in Qatar, neither side appeared committed to consummating a deal.But by skipping a practice on Monday, a day after fans in Paris had jeered the league leaders for a home loss to Lorient, a middling team that P.S.G.’s stacked roster was expected to swat aside, any idea of a renewal extinguished.P.S.G. fans had regularly jeered Messi and his teammates this spring.Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersMondays are traditionally a day off for P.S.G.’s players after a victory. When they lose, however, the players are expected to train.By Monday afternoon, though, Messi and his family were already being photographed in Saudi Arabia, fulfilling a part of the player’s multiyear contract to promote the Gulf kingdom’s tourism authority. In Paris, club officials were formulating their furious response to their star’s unapproved absence.By Tuesday evening, word started to spread that P.S.G. would not indulge Messi. Officially, the club has been tight-lipped. But the penalties meted out to Messi were quickly leaked: He had been suspended from practice and games for two weeks, during which time he would not receive a cent of his gargantuan salary, reported to be close to $800,000 a week. Privately, a club official said it was unlikely Messi would ever wear the club’s colors again.Like P.S.G., Messi and his representatives remained publicly silent as speculation grew that their relationship was falling apart behind the scenes. Messi’s camp has, though, briefed a variety of media personalities on his side of the story. Messi was under the impression that he had the club’s permission to carry out his commercial endeavor, those reports said this week. Messi had decided a month ago, one reported, that he would not stay in Paris for a third season. He had even transmitted that decision to the club, the reports said.The club, meanwhile, was doing the same. The immediate concern, it seemed, was not to repair the relationship but to control the narrative. But focusing on the specifics ignored the obvious: This week’s denouement represents the nadir in Messi’s transactional relationship not only with P.S.G. but perhaps also with the state of Qatar. The former had heralded his arrival in Paris less than two years ago — a soft landing after Messi’s budget-driven, tear-filled exit from Barcelona — as a triumph. The latter has gone to great lengths ever since to associate itself with Messi’s genius.Messi with the P.S.G. president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, in 2021, when he became the Qatar-owned club’s latest star signing.Stephane De Sakutin/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMessi with Qatar’s emir after leading Argentina past France in the World Cup final.Hannah Mckay/ReutersThe marriage of convenience could not have gone better for player, club and country. Messi signed one of the richest contracts in sports. Qatar-owned P.S.G. added another world-class name in its to-date-fruitless search for a Champions League title. Qatar the nation, meanwhile, added a headliner before the biggest event in the country’s history, the 2022 World Cup, and then watched Messi play a starring role in a tournament that ended with his being draped in a bisht — a traditional ceremonial cloak — by Qatar’s emir and then paraded through the streets of Lusail like a trophy.Figures close to P.S.G. expressed surprise on Wednesday with the characterization of Messi’s exit being presented on his behalf. They said it was the club that had gone slow on the idea of a contract renewal, as part of a plan to refashion the club away from its addiction to superstars like Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé and toward one that is more reliant on homegrown talent. Messi’s camp, they insisted, had even put a number on what it would take him to stay, proposing a salary increase that was far beyond anything the club had tentatively offered in January. By then, though, it may have been too late.Defeat to middling Lorient on Sunday meant more jeers from P.S.G.’s fans, and practice on Monday for the players.Christian Hartmann/ReutersStorm clouds had started to gather almost as soon as Messi returned from Qatar as a world champion. P.S.G.’s form started to dip as the league season resumed in the new year, and its once-unassailable lead in the league started to shrink. The team was dumped out of the French Cup and — most frustratingly for its Qatari owners and its Parisian fans — from the Champions League, too.All the while, the jeers and whistles of the P.S.G. ultras grew louder, and the angriest voices increasingly started to focus on Messi, whose form and output — perhaps as expected for a 35-year-old coming off an exhausting World Cup — dipped below his customary brilliance.Messi watchers, part of a cottage industry attached to the player’s stardom as much as his soccer prowess, have in recent weeks speculated about where he might land next season. A return to Barcelona, perhaps? An American adventure in Miami? An extended stay in Saudi Arabia? All are surely on the table now.As Messi poses for photos with his family in Riyadh, one thing is crystal clear: His future will not be in Paris. More

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      Playing Lionel Messi and Argentina Will Cost You $5 Million a Game

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      Five months ago, Argentina won the biggest prize in soccer. Now teams across the world are fighting for the second biggest: the chance to play it.All told, there were around a dozen offers for officials at Argentina’s national soccer federation to contemplate. They came, largely, from the game’s commercially lucrative emerging markets: the United States, China, Australia, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates. The only outlier, really, was an unlikely bid from Bangladesh.Each suitor wanted the same thing — the chance to host Lionel Messi and Argentina in one of two designated windows for friendly matches this summer — but all had their own motivation. Some were inspired by the sporting prestige of gracing the same field as the World Cup champions. For others, the potential benefits strayed into the political.They were all, though, prepared to pay for the privilege. Each offer promised the A.F.A., Argentina’s soccer federation, not just a slice of ticket sales, television rights and commercial revenue from the games, but an eye-watering appearance fee, too.Five months since it won the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina has become the most in-demand, and possibly the most expensive, opponent in international soccer. The going rate for a single game with the world champion has climbed so high that $5 million is now just the starting point, according to officials with knowledge of the discussions.The identity of the winning bids for the two matches in June is not yet official. The A.F.A. is continuing to assess its options, and will only make a firm decision once Lionel Scaloni, the national team’s coach, indicates he is comfortable with their plans.Sources inside a number of the national associations involved, though, have suggested that the most likely schedule is for Argentina to play its first game in China — possibly against Australia, pending Scaloni’s approval — and then travel to Indonesia for a game against a host team currently ranked 149th in the world.Those matchups illustrate the extent to which the benefits of a meeting with the reigning world champion stretch far beyond the sporting. Such is Argentina’s cachet, in light of its victory in Qatar, that Australia’s soccer authorities have been encouraged to agree to host a game in China in the hope that it might strengthen political and economic ties between the countries, according to an official involved in the talks. The Indonesia game could be seen as a similarly pragmatic reward: Last month, Argentina stepped in as host of this year’s Under-20 World Championship after Indonesia was stripped of the tournament over protests against Israel’s involvement.That schedule would, however, mean passing on an encounter to play in the United States, though only for the time being. In recent years, the A.F.A. has embarked on a plan to increase both its commercial revenue and its reach — traditionally overshadowed by its archrival, Brazil — as part of a strategic attempt to capitalize on its global appeal.Argentina’s first two matches after the World Cup were a pair of exhibitions on home soil in March. The bidding for two games in June has been intense.Nicolas Aguilera/Associated PressRecent success has played into that. After lifting the Copa América trophy in 2021, its first major international honor since 1995 and Messi’s maiden championship with his country, Argentina could claim more sponsors and partners than any other national team on the planet.That expanded again after Qatar. The A.F.A. has signed deals with four more partners, largely in India and Bangladesh, in the months since the World Cup. There has been a downstream effect for the country’s domestic league, too: It has more sponsors for this season than it has had at any point in its history.It is the United States, though, that is Argentina’s “priority for the next four years,” said Leandro Petersen, the A.F.A.’s chief commercial and marketing officer. To deepen that connection, the federation plans to build a $10 million training facility in North Bay Village, Fla., a tiny outcrop of land between Miami and Miami Beach, to act as a gathering spot for its national teams during international breaks.The complex may be just the first of a number of facilities in the United States: The A.F.A. is also considering establishing a physical presence in several other cities as part of what Petersen called a “landing strategy.”Argentina’s national team is scheduled to play on American soil in both 2024 and 2026 — first to defend its Copa América crown, and later its World Cup championship — but the A.F.A. would like to make the team’s visits an annual event. It is likely to arrange at least one game in North America in 2025 as part of its preparations for the World Cup, and may even seek to face Mexico — which now plays the bulk of its friendlies in America — and the United States that year.Neither nation would, in all likelihood, turn down that chance. After all, Argentina is now the biggest show in town: not only the world champion but, thanks to its nerve-shredding, emotional journey through Qatar, the most compelling team on the planet. Sharing the field with Messi and Co. these days, it would seem, is almost priceless.Tariq Panja More