Leonardo Beams With Pride For Masterminding Messi's Move To PSG
Recently departed Paris Saint Germain sporting director Leonardo has expressed pride at being able to masterminds the transfer of Lionel Messi to the club.
Messi shocked the footballing world last summer when he joined PSG on a free transfer after Barcelona were unable to put their finances in order to retain his services.
That transfer remains the only one in the seven-time Ballon D'or winner's illustrious career and Leonardo is glad to have played a role in that.
Leonardo told L’Equipe: “We had thought about it a lot, yes. We had talked about it, but Messi had never thought too much about leaving Barcelona.
“It was the last moments before his arrival that were decisive. Afterwards, everything becomes a bit more normal but, you made Messi's only transfer in his career!
“Chronologically, there is Pele, Maradona, Messi. He is on Olympus. So when I take stock of my three years, I see a Champions League final, a semi-final, the 10th league title, seven national trophies and I signed Messi.”
Messi scored just 11 goals across all competitions in his debut season in France.
Leonardo went on to add of his fondest memories at PSG: “There are two very significant moments for me, even if I don't like to pick out the best.
“The first is the signing, on the same day, of [Marco] Verratti and [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic (in 2012). It was no coincidence that a youngster from the Italian second division and a world football star arrived at the same time. The second is Messi. These are two huge dates.”
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