Messi set to earn total of £94m at Paris giants

LIONEL MESSI will earn an eye-watering £94million in wages over his three-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain, it has been revealed.

The Argentine joined the French giants in the summer after Barcelona were unable to tie him down to a new deal because of their financial issues.

French newspaper L’Equipe have now leaked the details of the 34-year-old’s contract which will see him earn as much as Neymar and more than Kylian Mbappe.

Messi will receive a net salary of €110m (£94m) over the next three seasons should he stay at the club.

The Argentine will earn €30m (£25.6m) this season and €40m (£34.1m) over the following two campaigns before his contract expires in 2024, when he will be 37 years old.

His salary is similar to what he would have received at Barcelona if he had been able to stay at the club where he made his name.

Messi was willing to cut his salary by 50 per cent, which would have seen him earn a net €30m per season at the Catalan giants.

Those wages though would still have been too high under La Liga’s financial fair play regulations, which is what led to his departure from the club at the end of his last contract.

Messi did not receive any transfer bonus when he made the move to PSG, though it’s said he will receive a loyalty bonus that would equate to €15m (£12.8m) per year.

Since completing his move to the Ligue 1 side, he has also linked up with cryptocurrency website Crypto.com which will see him earn an additional sum of up to €30m over the duration of his contract.

Part of Messi’s salary will be paid by cryptocurrency fan tokens, which are a type of cryptocurrency that allow holders to vote on mostly minor decisions related to their clubs.

His wages are similar to that of team-mate Neymar though while Messi’s wages go up next season, the Brazilian forward will see his head in the opposite direction over the coming seasons before the end of his contract in 2025.

Mbappe is currently on a salary worth €25m (£21.4m) but is believed to have turned down approaches over a new deal with his contract at the club expiring next summer.