Will Messi return to Barca or head to Saudi Arabia for his next footballing adventure?

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On the face of it, one of them has made a huge mistake.

Whether it is Lionel Messi or Paris Saint-Germain is a moot point. But, whichever way you choose to interpret it the world’s most famous football player has sparked a high level of interest and speculation across the planet as he gets set to become a free agent this summer.

And it all began with a harmless (or was it) trip to Saudi Arabia with his family, as part of the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner’s commercial commitments in his role as a tourism ambassador for the Gulf state.

However, perhaps the intent and timing were wrong. Just three days earlier PSG was dealt a crushing 3-1 home defeat by FC Lorient in Ligue 1, a game in which Messi played the full 90 minutes.

As a result of the Middle Eastern trip, the 2022 World Cup-winning Argentina captain missed a training session scheduled for Monday which the PSG top brass did not take lightly and opted for a tough disciplinary approach where they handed the star a two-week suspension.

Since then things have been spiralling out of control for both the French club and the Argentine great with talk centering on what the future holds for both, club and player.

While Messi will doubtless have countless options to choose from for his next adventure in the beautiful game, including a much-rumored return to his former club for 17 years, Barcelona, PSG will be under pressure to find the key to turning around a season that has seen them struggle since its round-of-16 Champions League exit.

However, the Messi standoff with the French giants is camouflaged in doubt as it makes conflicting headlines across the globe. It was first stated that PSG had no plans to extend his two-year deal nor his contractual extension for another year.

Meanwhile, media reports emerged saying that his father, Jorge, had informed PSG a month earlier of his son’s decision to leave the club that he joined in 2021.

PSG supporters have long been questioning his costly appointment contending that the club fell prey to his star appeal and had not focused on building a team that could be competitive and add to their 10 league titles.

The question and answer that everyone will want is, where will Leo head next?

A return to Barcelona looks most likely but given his links with Saudi Arabia, and the gap that will be opened should Cristiano Ronaldo quit Al Nassr club and the Saudi league, the Argentine great could well be headed to the Middle East for footballing duties and not as an ambassador.

Major League Soccer will also doubtless try to woo the man who has scored a staggering 800 plus career goals, as will big-spending English Premier League sides Man City and Chelsea, while German powerhouse Bayern Munich will also have to be factored into the equation.

So, whichever way you look at it, the name Messi is sure to be the talk of the sporting world for the next couple of weeks and months, as we wait to discover in which direction will the legend choose to spend his twilight years and cap what has been an epic career.