Messi to PSG the biggest transfer news
When Diego Maradona left Barcelona to join Napoli in July 1984, that was the biggest and perhaps the most unusual transfer news of the year considering that the Italian side were not as big as AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus.
AC Milan had Franco Baresi, Ray Wilkins and young Paolo Maldini on their books; Juventus had the great Michel Platini and World Cup winner Marco Tardelli, while Inter had Walter Zenga, Giuseppe Bergomi, Liam Brady and German international Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Napoli, on the other hand, had no great players after the departure of Dutch international Ruud Krol at the end of the 1983/84 season. And the club needed a star that would turn their fortunes around.
On July 5, 1984, a crowd of more than 80,000 Neapolitans and journalists packed the San Paolo Stadium to the rafters waiting for the Argentine star to come out of the dugout like a messiah.
Maradona was signed following an unhappy spell in Barcelona where he often clashed with then club president, Josep Lluis Nunez. And the injury he suffered ff dd during i th the chaotic 1984 Copa del Reyl Final against Athletic Bilbao brought the curtain down on his two unhappy seasons spent in Spain.
But in southern Italy, it took him only two years to transform a midtable team to League champions and eventually UEFA Cup winners in 1989.
And by the time Maradona left Naples in 1992 to join Sevilla in Spain at the age of 32, he was regarded as the greatest player ever to play for Napoli.
Since then, other big transfers news involving Barcelona players saw Brazilian Ronaldo de Lima join Inter Milan in 1997 in a surprise move and Luis Figo moving to sworn enemies Real Madrid at the turn of the century.
But Lionel Messi’s transfer to Paris-Saint Germain is arguably even bigger than that of Maradona, Ronaldo and Figo. Unlike Messi, Maradona was not wanted in Barcelona by the time he left. But his fellow countryman Messi is idolised and adored, and considered the greatest to ever don the Blaugrana jersey, winning 35 trophies and scoring 672 goals. And that is why he brought the entire c city to tears on the day he d departed.
Messi did not want to leave Barcelona and fo ollowing the Copa America A victory with Argentina A he was certain he h was going to be re enewing his contract by another a five years. But due d to LaLiga’s financial re estrictions the deal collapsed. c
It is impossible to know what w the reception in Paris was w going to be like had it not n been for the COVID-19 re estrictions.
But what is without a doubt is that a lot will be b expected from him t his season. PSG has been b dominating French fo ootball since the club was w bought by the Qatar Sports St Investments It tb but th has never won the won the UEFA Champions League.
And by signing Messi to add to a squad roster that has already players like Sergio Ramos, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria – anything other than a Champions League win will be considered a failure.
Messi is well aware of the massive expectations on his shoulders and so is his manager and countryman Mauricio Pochettino. Now let’s see what the Argentine magician can achieve in the City of Love.