Lionel Messi’s troubled stint at Paris Saint Germain is over, and the French team will not renew his contract when it ends in June this year, sports media in Europe and Argentina have reported.

“Messi will leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season. There are no doubts about that anymore,” tweeted Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano. “Behind the scenes, it’s now understood that Leo’s father Jorge communicated the decision to PSG already one month ago due to the project. It was the final breaking point.”

Neither Messi nor PSG had made official statements at the time of writing. However, French sports newspaper L’Equipe reported the break-up between the Argentine football legend and the French team on its Wednesday cover, headlined ‘La rupture’, and Argentine channel TyC Sports echoed the news in a tweet. 

The news comes following PSG’s decision to sanction the player for several days due to an allegedly unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia with his family on Sunday. According to Romano, PSG had decided to cancel one of the team’s two days off, giving players just Tuesday to rest. Messi reportedly learned of the decision on Monday when he was already on a plane to Riyadh with his family, on a trip he had already canceled twice to comply with PSG’s schedule.  

After the sanction by PSG – which has yet to be officially announced – was leaked to the press, Messi didn’t attend the ‘Camp des Loges’ training session today. According to French media reports, PSG’s sports manager Luis Campos informed Messi of the sanction on Monday afternoon.

The captain of Argentina’s Qatar 2022 World Cup-winning team will be excluded from training sessions and miss the next two matches against Troyes, on Sunday, and Ajaccio on May 13. He will also be fined.

Sources close to Messi said that the player informed the club of the trip, which he took to fulfill commercial commitments as a “tourism ambassador” for that country. 

“This is a strong message from PSG, saying ‘no one is above the club’,” said Romano. 

“The feeling is clear: it seems to be almost over between Lio Messi and PSG” 

With information from Télam