PSG superstar Lionel Messi receives improved offer from Saudi worth staggering €500m-per-season amid Barcelona interest: Reports
Al Hilal have reportedly upped their contract offer to Lionel Messi as they try to lure the Argentine. The Saudi Arabian side has offered the PSG star a whopping €500 million per season.
As per a report in Cadena Ser via GOAL, Al Hilal are doing all they can to get Messi to move to Saudi Arabia in the summer. The Argentine will become a free agent at the end of the season as his contract at PSG expires.
Reports earlier this season suggested Al Hilal were offering €400 million per season to sign Messi. However, they have now upped their initial offer amid claims that the Argentine's wife has doubts about moving to the Middle East.
Moreover, Barcelona and Inter Miami are also in the race and are trying hard to convince the FIFA World Cup winner to join them. Qatari rally driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has offered advice to the Argentine and suggested it would be best for him to join Al Hilal.
He told Mundo Deportivo:
"It's difficult for Lionel Messi to go back to Barcelona after PSG. PSG are a rich club and they have a clear plan. What I think now is that an Arabian club will, in a few months, sign Lionel Messi. And I can tell you which one: I'm sure he'll go to Al-Hilal. There's a lot of money here, and players are looking for a big contract. Saudi Arabia wants to host the World Cup."
Al Hilal want to reignite Messi's rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League.
Lionel Messi's father denies rumors of agreement
Reports suggested that Lionel Messi had agreed a deal with Al Hilal and was set to join the Saudi Arabian side. However, the Argentine's father, Jorge, has rebuffed all claims.
He told (via Fabrizio Romano):
"There's absolutely NOTHING agreed with any club for next season. We won't do anything now — and we will decide at the end of the current season... I can guarantee that it will never be decided before the end of current season with Paris Saint-Germain."
He added:
"Leo Messi's name is always used around — but we can guarantee that there's NOTHING signed, agreed or even verbally agreed and it won't happen now... It's full of fake news around with no proof of what these 'media' say in public to invent stories and with zero respect — why don't they check their news?"
Lionel Messi was in Saudi Arabia earlier this month and reportedly held talks with Al Hilal.