Inside Lionel Messi’s One-Month Stay At PSG

Former Barcelona star player Lionel Messi’s move to Paris Saint-Germain in August made the biggest transfer in football history.

Sad that he left his childhood club, Messi looked at the bigger picture and moved to France on August 10.

The French Club signed Leo Messi for two years contract with an option to extend for a further one year.

The big question is, how is France treating him so far? Why hasn’t he featured much in PSG games? Here is a comprehensive review of what Messi has been up to since his arrival to France.

Messi’s One-Month Life In France

There was so much happening to Messi in his first month in Paris. His relocation from Spain to Paris carries with it a huge chunk of responsibility as a father and a family man.

The first few days were gobbled up in welcoming him to this great European city. Frenchmen thronged the streets of the city in folds to give him a hearty welcome to PSG after departure from the Catalan club.

In his life, Messi never experienced such hype since he only played for Barcelona since his teenage days. This was a whole new experience for him.

The prestigious Royal Monceau hotel received Messi with open arms. This is his residence currently before he gets a permanent place to stay.

In Spain the iconic Castelldefels Villa set tongues wagging. It speaks of opulence. In Paris, you can expect he is looking for something close to this or better. The western suburbs of France are a perfect fit for him.

Messi Integration With PSG

The Argentine has several friends in the club who continue helping him to settle in. Remember, things are quite different here and he needed guidance in several things and he was lucky having old South American friends in PSG.

Spaniards Di Maria and Paredes have been of great help to Messi. They welcomed him to France with open arms. Neymar who plays for PSG also welcomed Messi to his new home.

Worth talking about as he settles into PSG is his cordial relationship with Sergio Ramos. Ramos was a sworn arch-enemy back in the day. The two stars often crashed during Barcelona-Real Madrid matches.

Today though, they are coping well in the team.

When Will Messi Feature Fully In PSG Matches?

Messi’s first training session came on August 12 but he has featured much in PSG games. He was required to fit in by all forms before taking the pitch.

On August 29, he made his debut at PSG although for 24 minutes only. PSG faced off with Reims and Messi came in as a second-half substitute replacing Neymar Jr on the 66th minute.

He was away for Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers at the beginning of September. And this was the biggest scare for PSG as he was badly tackled down in a win against Venezuela.

With his return to PSG, he is now in a fit form to feature for the top-tier French Ligue 1 club.

Messi History So Far At PSG

The Argentine forward’s move to France started off things on the right note for his new club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

When he touched down in Paris on Tuesday, August 10, PSG provided Messi’s shirt emblazoned with his name and number “30”.

They sold all the 150,000 pieces in just 20 minutes each going for €107.99 thereby generating €16,198,500 in total sales.

This goes down to history as one of the biggest sales of all time the French League stars.

Number “30” emblazoned in Messi’s shirt carries a lot of significance. He wore this shirt at Barcelona, his former club that he played for religiously for 21 years.

Ligue 1 allowed PSG exclusive rights to have the number on the Argentinian striker’s shirt since it is a reserve for goalkeepers only.

The massive jersey sale came with a multitude of PSG fans thronging the streets to welcome the new kid on the block.

Besides the shirt’s mega sale, PSG hit nearly a triple-digit growth in the number of followers on Instagram. PSG in the last three days after Messi’s arrival in France hit 44.3 million followers, a number that was below 20 million before Messi’s move to France.