The Argentinian star was fined by his club on Tuesday after an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
It’s a private trip that makes a lot of talk. After missing a day of training for a trip to Saudi Arabia without the agreement of his club, Lionel Messi is the subject of disciplinary proceedings confirmed by PSG on Tuesday May 2.
The reasons for Lionel Messi’s trip to Saudi Arabia are contractual and commercial. The Argentinian world champion is linked with the country’s tourist office, of which he is an ambassador, and promotes on social networks.
On April 29, on the eve of the defeat against Lorient, he had posted on his Instagram account an image of a green landscape, with the mention of a paid partnership and the caption: “Who would have thought there was so much green in Saudi Arabia? I like to explore its unexpected wonders whenever I can.”
Saudi Tourism Board Ambassador
On its website, the Saudi Arabia tourist office, under the “Visit Saudi” brand, even offers a whole section dedicated to the PSG player, with his “unmissable visits” and his “essential experiences”. Since Monday, Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb has been sharing photos of the last trip, that of discord, on his Twitter account. We see the Messi family in Diriyah, in a traditional village, or visiting a luxury shopping center in Riyadh, the country’s capital.
The trip is also in the news simply because of its destination, namely Saudi Arabia, one of the neighbors and main competitors of Qatar, owner of the capital club, on the economic and international level. During the football World Cup disputed in the small Gulf state, we could thus see Lionel Messi, figure of the Qatari PSG, staged in advertising spots to promote tourism in the Saudi neighbor.
For Paris Saint-Germain, this is one more controversy to manage at the heart of a delicate end to the season. The club, which remains on a home defeat against Lorient, and which has lost four of its last eight games played in all competitions, missed a disappointing 2022-2023 exercise sportingly and hectic behind the scenes.
This last case could also sign the end of the Parisian adventure of Lionel Messi. The disciplinary procedure decided by Paris “comes at a time when the two parties were more or less discussing a possible extension”, underlined Jean-Baptiste Renet, editor-in-chief of The Teamon the airwaves of franceinfo. “This decision marks the end of discussions, Lionel Messi will not extend his contract”he said.