Lionel Messi is still in the process of getting to know each other in his new adopted home, Paris. “At the moment, I have to admit, I’m still a bit lost,” said the 34-year-old Argentine soccer star in an interview with France Football magazine (Saturday). “I have to get to know the city now to find my way around easier,” said Messi, who is currently active with the national team in the World Cup qualifiers in South America.
He moved to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer after 21 years at FC Barcelona. “In Barcelona I had my habits, I knew every corner, I often went to the same places,” explained Messi. On the Seine, he still lives in a luxury hotel with his wife and three sons.
The three boys would also teach him French, Messi said with a laugh. “You go to school and learn in class. They pick up the words and remember them right away. ”Sometimes they would say things to him in French, but he hadn’t even started. “Yes, and they are better than me at that,” Messi replied when asked if the sons would teach him the words.
“I thought everything was settled”
It was unimaginable for Messi for a long time that he would end up in Paris or even away from his heart club and out of Barcelona. “It was clear to me and my family that I would end my career in Barcelona,” said Messi. At the age of 13 he moved there from Rosario in 2000 and became a superstar there.
After winning the Copa America with Argentina and the vacation afterwards, he returned to Barcelona to prepare for the season. “I thought everything was settled and only my signature was missing.”
When he arrived, the club officials said that he could not stay and that he would have to look for a new club. Messi’s contract expired at the end of June. The problem for the Catalans: The club is heavily in debt, a new contract failed due to the club’s empty coffers and the requirements of financial fair play in Spain’s top league.
Barça president Joan Laporta had even hoped Messi would go on without pay. “I would have liked if Messi had said at the last moment that he was playing for free,” Laporta told RAC1 on Friday. But he didn’t expect it.
Meanwhile, Messi’s hopes were confirmed that the Argentine delegation at PSG and also former Barça teammate Neymar would facilitate and accelerate the integration at his new club. “And I wasn’t wrong,” stressed Messi. In addition, his offensive colleague Kylian Mbappé, for whom he would vote like for Neymar in the election for world footballer, speaks fluent Spanish. That also makes it easier, said Messi: “To be honest, it’s easy to get on well with a player like him.”
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