PSG will end the season as Ligue 1 champions, but without having achieved its main objective: Winning the 2021-2022 Champions League. The French club had assembled a great squad to win the cup, but the objective was not achieved and there will likely be some changes for next season.
One of the changes expected for next season is the hiring of a new coach. Mauricio Pochettino was unable to make a star-studded team shine. Furthermore, as reported by L'Equipe, the directors are planning to reorganize the squad by freeing up wage space and recouping money by selling some of the team's key players.
While PSG are focused on doing its best to persuade Kylian Mbappe to renew his contract, rumors claim that many players will leave the club at the end of the season. Some of the names are Julian Draxler, Leandro Paredes, Layvin Kurzawa y Thilo Kehrer, Di Maria, and Sergio Ramos. But what about Lionel Messi and Neymar?
Neymar´s future
Since arriving at PSG in 2017 Neymar has rarely been able to be in the most important matches. The Brazilian began to miss games due to injuries, something that did not please the fans and began to annoy the directors. Neymar's problems with PSG fans started and never stopped.
Besides that, the 30-year-old was never able to develop his full ability on the field. He never seemed to be at ease in Paris and off-field problems affected him. "They're going to get tired of whistling because I have three more years left on my contract," Neymar said of the criticism his team has taken after their Champions League elimination. And it is true, the Brazilian has a contract until June 2025, but it seems that PSG officials do not want the player to complete it.
According to Sky Sports, PSG has placed Neymar on its transferable list and the price to let the Brazilian leave is 90 million euros, a far cry from the 222 million euros it paid Barcelona to sign him. If this really goes through, PSG would be relieved of the highest salary in the squad (according to Marca, Neymar earns 48,996,000 euros per season) but would lose one of the best players in the world.
Messi's future
There is no official information yet, but everything seems to indicate that Lionel Messi will stay at PSG and will complete his two-year contract. "We want to confirm that Messi is going to fulfill his contract with PSG that ends in June 2023 and, if there is an agreement, he may continue for one more year. He did not take any option to leave PSG”, said journalist Gastón Edul on TyC Sports.
It was not a great season for the Argentinean. He has played 30 games and scored nine goals (5 in the Champions League and 4 in Ligue 1), low numbers based on his stats. In addition, he has missed fourteen games this season, due to injuries, travels with the Argentine national team, Coronavirus, and flu.
However, Lionel Messi's great potential is well known and his next season will surely be much better. If Neymar leaves PSG, Messi will become the highest-paid player in the squad, currently, he has the second-highest salary, earning 40,500,000 euros per season. Messi will be PSG's new leader.
