Lionel Messi reaches total agreement with PSG and will fly to Paris this afternoon for his medical and to sign £1MILLION-per-week, two-year deal TODAY after leaving Barcelona
- PSG have finalised a two-year deal with Lionel Messi worth £1million-a-week
- Messi is now due in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon for a medical
- He will put pen to paper on a deal and be presented to media on Wednesday
- Barcelona's divorce from Messi saw his poster taken down at the Nou Camp Paris Saint-Germain have reached agreement with Lionel Messi and his lawyers with the 34-year-old expected in the French capital this afternoon.
Sources at the French club confirmed Messi's lawyers had been pouring over the contract proposal since Sunday but gave it their approval this morning and Messi will travel to Paris from his home in Barcelona.
A press conference is set to take place on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes.
Lionel Messi will become a PSG player after agreeing a two-year contract to move to France
PSG's supporters gathered in large numbers on Monday in the hope of seeing Messi arrive
Jorge Messi was mobbed as he arrived at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport Paris Saint-Germain have reached agreement with Lionel Messi and his lawyers with the 34-year-old expected in the French capital this afternoon.
Sources at the French club confirmed Messi's lawyers had been pouring over the contract proposal since Sunday but gave it their approval this morning and Messi will travel to Paris from his home in Barcelona.
A press conference is set to take place on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes.
Lionel Messi will become a PSG player after agreeing a two-year contract to move to France
PSG's supporters gathered in large numbers on Monday in the hope of seeing Messi arrive
Jorge Messi was mobbed as he arrived at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport France's highest tax bracket is 45 per cent and so Messi's gross annual salary will be in the region of €63m (£53m), taking his gross earnings to just over £1m a week.
The player's representatives and Barcelona had earlier moved to dispel reports that the Spanish side made a last ditch bid to keep Messi.
Sources close to negotiations have re-affirmed that Barcelona could not afford to keep Messi even if he stayed for free as, even without him, they are above the wage cap for LaLiga this season. For that reason they did not attempt to persuade Messi to drop his salary.
Messi will form a devastating attacking trident alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappe Messi had remained at home in Barcelona awaiting the all-clear to travel to Paris ahead of agreeing a three year deal.
His pending arrival comes at a time when French clubs are reeling from failed TV deals which has impacted revenue.
It is hoped Messi's presence will stimulate new negotiations with interested TV companies to benefit clubs across the French league.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, talking to L'Equipe, explained how it could lead to an increase in income from BeIN's overseas rights deal.
He said: 'If this is confirmed, it'll be fantastic for us all. For the TV rights and the general marketing value of Ligue 1, it would undeniably be a plus.
Contractors at Barcelona were seen removing a poster of Messi at their Nou Camp stadium'This time, with Messi, you can't imagine that in a transparent context the broadcasting rights sold by BeIN abroad wouldn't explode.
'I am very confident. If this transfer goes through, with Neymar and Mbappé there, we are in a favourable position.
'If Qatar take the initiative to build a great team at PSG, we'll all be happy – even if it makes the competition more difficult.
'But you need the other clubs, at least the ones going for European places, to have the means to sign players like Messi.
'In that case, we would become the number one league in Europe. For that to happen, BeIN has to be positive with the international rights to develop them even further.'
Messi's father, Jorge, was central to the negotiations on behalf of his son's PSG switch
The 34-year-old was in Ibiza with the PSG's big names including Neymar and Angel Di Maria
Signing Messi gives PSG the highest wage bill of any sports team on the planet at £256M, overtaking Real Madrid and well ahead of the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and the Golden State Warriors
By Kieran Jackson for MailOnline
Messi's impending move to PSG still seems very hard to fathom - but wait till you see the money at play.
The 34-year-old Argentine great is going to earn £25m a year as he signs a two-year deal at the Parc des Princes, with a deal to be officially confirmed in the coming hours.
With seemingly no end to PSG's expenditure this summer, the Ligue 1 club now have an astronomically high wage bill which is way out in front on a global scale.
Sportsmail gives you all the figures and explains how they're outspending sporting heavyweights across a number of different sports.
5) LOS ANGELES DODGERS - £193m
The highest-paid non-football sports team is MLB franchise the LA Dodgers, who won their first World Series in 32 years last year.
Trevor Bauer earns the most, at £24.5m, while Mookie Betts was recently handed an astonishing 12-year $365m deal, which works out at $30.4m (£21.9m) a year.
The Dodgers are someway ahead of the second highest-paid MLB team, the New York Yankees who have an annual payroll of £146m.
Source: spotrac
Trevor Bauer earns the most at the Los Angeles Dodgers, on a whopping £24.5million a year
4) BARCELONA - £195m
This is the Messi effect. Before this summer, Barcelona actually topped this list on £238m.
But as the Catalans failed to agree a new contract for their most prized asset, their total wage bill dropped dramatically as they look to rid themselves of the astonishing levels of debt they find themselves in.
Nevertheless, Antoine Griezmann is still on a yearly salary of £30.8m, with Philippe Coutinho now the third-highest earner on £21.2m. New signings Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay are reportedly on £5m and £4.3m a year respectively.
Source: Salary Sport
3) MANCHESTER UNITED - £201m
The big-money signings this summer of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane - whose move is not yet fully completed - sees the Red Devils third in the list of the highest wage bills of global sports teams.
Sancho - signed for £73m from Borussia Dortmund - is on £18.2m a year while the club's highest earner is still goalkeeper David de Gea, on £19.5m.
French defender Varane is reportedly set to earn £10.25m per season at Old Trafford, with Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford also all earning £10m+ a year.
Source: spotrac
Jadon Sancho - signed this summer for £73m from Borussia Dortmund - is on £18.2m a year
2) REAL MADRID - £212m
The Spanish giants have seen their wage bill reduced somewhat by Sergio Ramos' departure this summer, given their former captain was on £17.5m-a-year according to Salary Sport.
Yet with David Alaba reportedly earning in the region of £10m-a-year, Madrid still retain second spot.
Their highest-earner is Eden Hazard, on an annual wage of £21m-a-year, while Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric are all above £15m a year too.
Source: Salary Sport
Real Madrid's highest-earner is winger Eden Hazard, on an annual wage of £21m-a-year
1) PSG - £256m
It's been quite the summer for the Parisians.
As well as Messi's £25m-a-year deal, the Ligue 1 club have splashed out on free agents Georginio Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Ramos for a reported combined annual salary outlay of £29.2m.
It means the Ligue 1 club - backed by Qatari investment - now by some distance have the highest wage bill of any sports team on the planet, at around £256m. A huge renewal of Kylian Mbappe's contract will see that figure increase this summer too.
Source: Salary Sport
Sergio Ramos was among three former free agents who are earning big salaries at PSG
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