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Football London
Football London
Sport
Danyal Khan

PSG make first contact for Lionel Messi transfer ahead of Chelsea and Manchester City

After the dust has settled on the dramatic hours that have gone by since Barcelona came out with the statement confirming Lionel Messi wouldn't be playing for the club anymore, attention has turned to where he could end up this summer.

Messi, 34, was shocked to learn that the Catalan giants couldn't afford him anymore due to La Liga financial regulations, and this, therefore, has put all top European clubs on red alert as several look to convince the Argentine to join the project being proposed to him by the rich owners.

Joan Laporta and co confirmed the decision in a succinct statement that shocked the world of football and beyond.

It read: "Despite having reached an agreement between FC Barcelona and Leo Messi and with the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, it cannot be formalised due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations).

"Given this situation, Lionel Messi will not continue linked to FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot finally be fulfilled.

"Barca would like to thank with all its heart the player's contribution to the enhancement of the institution and wishes him the best in his personal and professional life."

One club already has not wasted any time in making their move for the player known to many as the 'GOAT' and unsurprisingly that is Mauricio Pochettino's Paris Saint-Germain.

Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Italia, like many others, has reported that the Parisians have already made the first contact in an attempt to make the dream front three of Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe a scary reality.

His article claims that contacts will intensify between the two parties as owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi has a 'great desire' to bring arguably the world's best footballer to his club.

Coupled with this, the 34-year-old is keen on reuniting with close friend Neymar, after Messi's now-former club couldn't afford to bring back the Brazilian to Spain last summer.

This comes as a big blow to the Premier League's chances of ever seeing the serial winner grace the pitches associated with the big clubs who could possibly afford the winger this summer, such as Manchester City and Chelsea.

Chelsea had been linked with making a move for the Copa America winner during last summer, but their £100million pursuit of striker target Romelu Lukaku this year means their chances of acquiring the Barcelona legend are slim.

football.london understands that the Blues are preparing to submit what could be the third and decisive bid of around £100million in order to try and prise away Serie A's 2020/21 MVP winner.

Messi, who won 20 trophies during his time in Spain, scored a total of 672 goals for the clubs in the 21 years he endued in the famous red and blue stripes since joining at the age of 13.

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