The reasons why Lionel Messi’s time at PSG went wrong

Lionel Messi’s exit from Paris Saint-Germain has been confirmed by Christophe Galtier just two years after the the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner signed for the Ligue 1 giants. 

Messi’s current deal at the Parc des Princes expires in the summer – after agreeing a two-year contract in 2021 – and the scramble to sign the Argentina star has already begun.

Former club Barcelona have been favourites to sign Messi of late, while Inter Miami have emerged as a potential option. Elsewhere, Manchester City, Chelsea and even Newcastle are said to be in the running. 

Saudi Arabia has also been touted as one of Messi’s likely destinations. But, before we can talk about where the Argentine star is going next, we must look at what went wrong in Paris. 

Mail Sport have taken a look back over Messi’s career in Paris and identified the areas in which he struggled to perform in and the external factors that played a role in his exit from leave the club. 

Lionel Messi’s exit from Paris Saint-Germain has been confirmed by Christophe Galtier

Messy departure from Barcelona 

Messi joined PSG after a financial tug of war with Barcelona in 2021 and has won a pair of Ligue 1 titles. However, the circumstances surrounding the 35-year-old’s transfer were far from ideal. 

Messi had been at the club for 21 years – becoming their all-time goalscorer with 682 strikes – when Barcelona released a bombshell statement stating he would not be staying at the club due to financial restrictions placed upon them by LaLiga amid their colossal debts.  

Messi – who was part of the squad that crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in 2021 after suffering an 8-2 hammering by Bayern Munich – was said to be devastated. 

Messi had held positive initial talks with the club after previously requesting to leave and thought he was set to re-sign with the Catalan giants. However, the Catalan giants had other plans. 

Therefore, Messi took a while to settle into life at PSG.  

Messi’s departure from Barcelona was messy which made settling into life at PSG difficult

An early goal drought 

The Paris Saint-Germain fans turned on Messi shortly after he arrived at the club. It was something I never thought would be possible but the French fans were frustrated by his lack of goals. 

The fans were hoping Messi would find the back of the net more than seven times in the first four months. They were also frustrated by his lack of assists – only registering four in the same time period. 

The PSG fans turned on Messi shortly after he arrived at the club because of his goal drought 

PSG fans blamed their Champions League exit on him 

It was widely reported that the main factor behind Messi’s arrival at PSG was to help the club achieve their ultimate dream of winning the Champions League having lost in the final in 2019-20 and reached the semi-finals in 2020-21.

However, Karim Benzema’s stunning hat-trick knocked PSG out of the tournament in 2022. The fans were furious with PSG for their performance, but Mauricio Pochettino blamed the match officials for their European exit. 

PSG crashed out of the Champions League again this season. This time it was Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting who helped knock his former club out of the European competition as Bayern Munich sealed a dominant 3-0 aggregate victory. 

The fans were furious with PSG’s Champions League performance. They blamed Messi for struggling to get them over the line and made their feeling known during their Ligue 1 game with Rennes. 

Messi’s name was read out and shown on the screen before their clash with Rennes in March and the fans took their opportunity to boo the 35-year-old.

Messi was hoping he would help PSG win the Champions League but failed to do so

Saudi misunderstanding caused a breakdown in his relationship with the club 

Messi skipped PSG training to take a trip to Saudi Arabia as part of his role as a tourism ambassador in a move that was not approved by boss Galtier – putting a strain on their relationship. 

Messi signed a lucrative £25m-a-year deal with Saudi Arabia to promote the kingdom in May last year as a tourism ambassador, taking his first trip in the role when he visited Jeddah soon after.

Messi took another trip to Saudi following PSG’s dismal loss to Lorient on Sunday, April 30. However, the French club announced that players needed to train on the Monday before being given the Tuesday off. 

Messi took an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia with his family during his time at PSG 

Galtier had originally explained they would have two days off if they beat the Ligue 1 outfit, with the club wary having given players four days the week before when many took the opportunity for a trip abroad.

As a result, every squad member was expected to be at their Camp des Loges training base on Monday. However, Messi was not present and was in fact in Riyadh as part of his contract with the Saudi tourist office.

Messi was handed a two-week suspension as a result and issued an apology to the club. ‘I thought we were going to have a day off after the game as always,’ Messi began in the 39-second clip shared onto his Instagram story.

‘I had this trip organised and I couldn’t cancel it. I had already cancelled it before. I apologise to my team-mates and I’m waiting for what the club wants to do with me.’ 

Injury problems stunted his progress 

Messi is viewed as this invincible player, but, just like everyone else he gets injured from time to time. Unfortunately for PSG, he picked up more injuries than they would have liked. 

Messi missed a several games during the 2021-2022 campaign and the 2022-2023 campaign due to calf problems. This not only kept him out of the game, but impacted his performances when he returned. 

Messi’s load was managed by the PSG medical staff. The amount of training he was allowed to complete was restricted. Therefore, the Argentine was not quite as fit as he has been in previous seasons. 

The 35-year-old star picked up several injuries during h is time at the Ligue 1 club

A lack of an emotional connection to Paris 

Messi never connected with Paris Saint-Germain in the same way he did with Barcelona. But that is to be expected. 

Messi gave an incredibly emotional goodbye to Barcelona. The 35-year-old shared the following statement, he said: ‘As long as I go on being competitive and as long as my body responds (I’ll carry on playing). As long as I can, I will carry on competing.’

He added: ‘I tried to behave with humility and respect and I hope that is what remains of me when I leave the club.’

Messi went on to say: ‘Honestly, when the elections happened (in March), I spoke with (club president Joan) Laporta, we had dinner and after that I was convinced I would be staying,’ he said.

Messi looked devastated as he spoke to the media and his team-mates at the Nou Camp

‘My contract was never the issue… What I know is that I did everything I could. The club say it could not happen because of LaLiga. I can guarantee you that I did everything I could to stay. Last year I didn’t want to and I said that, but this year it was different.’

He also said: ‘This year, my family and I were convinced we were going to stay at home, that’s what we all wanted more than anything. We’d always made this our own, we were at home. We thought we would be staying here in Barcelona. But today, we have to say goodbye to all of this.’

Messi finished by adding: ‘I did everything possible and the club, Laporta, they couldn’t do it because of LaLiga. 

‘I’ve heard things said about me, that I didn’t want to continue, but on my life, we did everything we could because I wanted to stay. Last year, I didn’t want to stay and I said it; this year, I wanted to stay and we couldn’t.’

Sharing the limelight with Mbappe and Neymar 

Messi has always been the star and was treated like one during his time at Barcelona. Therefore, it came as a bit of shock when the 35-year-old had to share the spotlight with Mbappe and Neymar. 

Messi featured 34 times in all competitions during his first season at Paris Saint-Germain. This increased to 40 during his second season at the club. However, those figures are significantly less than when he was at Barcelona.

During Messi’s final season at Barcelona, he featured 47 times. While the 2018-2019 season saw him represent the Catalan giants 50 times.

Messi has also started fewer games during his time at Paris Saint-Germain and played less minutes.  During his final season at Barcelona, he started 45 games compared to the 32 he was afforded in his first season in Paris.  

Messi has always been the star and was treated like one at Barcelona. Therefore, it came as a bit of shock when he he had to share the spotlight with Mbappe and Neymar 

Outperformed by Mbappe 

Mbappe has been consistently outperforming Messi in front of goal. Mbappe featured 42 times compared to Messi’s 40 games this season and scored 40 goals while Messi netted 21 goals. 

Mbappe also took 180 shots over the course of the 2022-2023 season compared to Messi’s 154. 

Elsewhere, Neymar converted 13 more shots than Messi. However, the 35-year-old did register more assists than his PSG team-mates.

Additionally, Mbappe had 411 touches inside of the opposition’s box this season compared to Messi’s 222 – making him more of a threat than the 35-year-old superstar.  

Mbappe has been consistently outperforming Messi in front of goal. Mbappe featured 42 times compared to Messi’s 40 times this season and scored 40 goals compared to Messi’s 21 goals