Opinion Express View on Lionel Messi leaving PSG: Messi business
A romance ended when he left Barcelona, a business deal will end when he leaves PSG
In the end, the PSG phase would be just a footnote in the gold-dusted pages of his career. A romance ended when he left Barcelona, a business deal will end when he leaves PSG. (Express Photo) 
Saturday night in Paris, Lionel Messi will wear PSG’s iconic Hechter stripes for one last time. The end was inevitable after his vacation in Saudi Arabia with his family for fulfilling a lucrative contract with the country’s tourism department. He was subsequently banned for practice, benched for two games and rumours began to whirl about his next destination. PSG didn’t cry; nor did Messi. It was like the end of a business deal, neither carrying the burden of emotion. But then, it was business from the start — a million-dollar deal, where PSG could parade its prized jewel, sell millions of jerseys worldwide, lift its image and build the fan-base.
It’s not that Messi was not influential at PSG. He scored 21 times, assisted 20 goals in a 40-match sojourn, and won league titles in both seasons. But there was neither magic nor madness. There were Messi goals, but few Messi moments. The mouth-watering trident of Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar never really fired in unison. Perhaps, the departure of Messi, and in all likelihood Neymar, will unburden the club. It was different at Camp Nou — it was system over individual, philosophy over money, beauty over success.
Perhaps the fault lies with the beholder too. For it was always hard to imagine Messi wearing a jersey other than that of Barcelona, the club he joined in his adolescence, that moulded his ideals and ideas, that was his home and identity. In the end, the PSG phase would be just a footnote in the gold-dusted pages of his career. A romance ended when he left Barcelona, a business deal will end when he leaves PSG.
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