PARIS - Lionel Messi has reached an agreement to join Paris Saint Germain (PSG), sports newspaper L'Equipe said on its website on Tuesday, after days of speculation over the Argentine's future following his departure from Barcelona.
Messi, who established himself as one of the world's greatest footballers during a glittering stay at the club he joined as schoolboy, will arrive in the French capital later on Tuesday, it said.
Reporters later saw Messi at Barcelona airport, though his destination could not immediately be confirmed.
Messi is the 34-year-old record goalscorer for both Argentina and Barcelona.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner, wept on Sunday as he bade farewell to his boyhood team, after the club said it could no longer afford to keep him, blaming La Liga's fair play rules.
The PSG frontline is already formidable, with Messi's former Barca team mate Neymar and young France striker Kylian Mbappe seen as two of the best players on the planet.
But the arrival of Messi, Barca's all-time record scorer with 682 goals, will boost the club's ambitions to win a first ever Champions League.
Messi is the latest big-name arrival at PSG on a free transfer this summer after coach Mauricio Pochettino's side snapped up Spanish defender Sergio Ramos after he left Real Madrid. Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum also joined after running down his contract with Liverpool.
Italy's Euro 2020-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has also joined after his contract with AC Milan ran out, while Moroccan fullback Achraf Hakimi joined from Inter Milan for a reported 60 million euros ($70 million).
The arrival of Messi, whose last contract with Barca was worth a total of 555 million euros and reported to be the most lucrative in world sport, is also set to provoke a renewed new debate about UEFA's financial fair play rules.
The rules were first introduced in 2009 to restrict some of the worst excesses of the game but have been criticised by some leading figures for being ineffective.
The arrival of Messi, who has 245 million followers on Instagram and is Barcelona's most decorated player of all time, is also welcome news for France's Ligue 1, embroiled in a crisis over TV rights.
($1 = 0.8530 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Paris, writing by Richard Martin Editing by Christian Radnedge and Timothy Heritage) ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))
