Lionel Messi will soon be unveiled as a Paris Saint-Germain player after agreeing to a contract with the club, according to the half-brother of the Emir of Qatar.
PSG quickly emerged in pole position to sign Messi, 34, after Barcelona confirmed he would not be re-signing with the club earlier this week.
The Argentine had agreed a new contract with Barca but the club would have been unable to register him with La Liga without breaching salary cap rules.
PSG were quick to capitalise as Messi's situation came to light on Thursday night as president Nasser Al-Khelaifi entered negotiations and manager Mauricio Pochettino spoke to his compatriot.
Talks between the parties progressed rapidly over the next 24 hours, and the Qatari royal who is the half-brother of PSG's owner claims an agreement was reached on Friday evening.
Khalid bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani took to Twitter to write: "Negotiations are officially concluded. And announce later. #Messi #Paris_Saint_Germain."
He also sent a rousing message to Barcelona, who have lost their captain and the player many regard as the greatest to ever play football.
"Barcelona will continue to be the great and great team through which the great football legends passed, Barcelona, which raised to a very high and extraordinary level of fun in football," wrote Khalifa Al-Thani.
"The entity is stable and the rest are leaving. The first hexagon in history, football fans will remember forever, Barcelona is not just a football club, Barcelona is a country in football."
Khalifa Al-Thani added another tweet of an interview of Neymar, who is set to reunite with his close friend and former Barcelona teammate at Le Parc des Princes.
In another post, he shared a picture of Messi and ex-Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos embracing and wrote: "The capital of light. 8 Champions League."
Ramos joined PSG on a free transfer earlier this summer after the expiry of his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Meanwhile, Barcelona president Joan Laporta lifted the lid on why the club could not tie down Messi to a new contract in an extraordinary press conference on Friday.
Source: mirror.co.uk
BDST: 1345 HRS, AUG 07, 2021
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