BARCELONA,
Spain
Lionel
Messi arrived at Barcelona airport on Tuesday, set to board a flight to the
French capital as Paris Saint-Germain look to complete the signing of the
Argentinian superstar.
The 34-year-old was accompanied by his wife and three children as he entered El Prat airport just before 1:30 pm (1130 GMT, 2.30pm EAT).
His father
Jorge, who is also his representative, arrived a short while earlier.
PSG have
spent the last few days trying to finalise an agreement to sign Messi following
his departure from Barcelona, the club he has represented for the entirety of
his 17-year professional career so far.
The French
side's supporters began gathering on Monday outside the club's Parc des Princes
home and at Le Bourget airport to the north of the city hoping to catch a
glimpse of Messi.
Meanwhile
the front page headline in French sports daily L'Equipe on Tuesday hinted at
the mood in Paris. "Growing restless", it said, while inside it spoke
of "the longest hours" as fans waited an announcement.
Reports in
Spain during the night talked of a "final offer" by Barcelona to try
to keep the player at the club.
Instead,
the mooted move to Paris is on the verge of being completed as Qatar-owned PSG
prepare to add the six-time Ballon d'Or winner to an attack already featuring
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
PSG see
Messi as the missing piece in their jigsaw as they chase the Champions League,
the trophy they want more than anything else.
Off the
field, talk of his move had added 1.2 million followers to PSG's social media
accounts since Friday.
"I am
happy if he arrives in Paris," new PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma
told Sky Sports Italia on Monday outside his Parisian hotel.
"He is
the strongest in the world, I am excited and happy at the thought of having him
in the team."People gather outside the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris as Argentinian football player Lionel Messi is expected to arrive
Messi
conceded at a tearful farewell news conference in Barcelona on Sunday that
joining PSG was only a "possibility".
In reality,
with Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City having ruled themselves out, PSG were
about the only club who could afford what is expected to be a deal worth 35
million euros ($41 million) a year.
"I
gave everything for Barcelona from the first day that I arrived right to the
last. I never imagined having to say goodbye," Messi said.
"I
have still not come to terms with the reality of leaving this club now -- I
love this club."
He leaves
Barcelona with 672 goals in 778 appearances, a record tally for one club.
Messi won
35 trophies at the Camp Nou after joining Barca aged 13, but his last
appearance was a damp squib: a 2-1 home defeat behind closed doors against
Celta Vigo in May.
His trophy
haul includes four Champions League and 10 La Liga titles.
"The
greatest of all," wrote Messi's old Barcelona teammate Dani Alves -- who
won the Olympic gold with Brazil in Tokyo-- in an Instagram message on Monday.
One group of Barcelona fans, represented by a Parisian lawyer, announced their intention to lodge a complaint with the European Commission in connection with the rules of financial fair play that Barcelona and PSG must follow.
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