Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of Spanish LaLiga regulations on player registration.

As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled.

FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life.

So, biggest bomb of this year, overshadowing everything else..

Is he going to PSG? Will this mean Mbappe is off to Madrid?

tragedy for football to have big player like this join second tier level league.

Imagine Lille winning the league again

second tier level league

WTF that even mean?? The French league is a very competitive league! Is it the best league? No! But is not "second tier"!

Their is more football outside the premier league!

Big player like this ? He is the 🐐 no arguments needed..

I am excited to see how this all plays out. Will PSG dominate as many are expecting? Will they finally get over the CL hump? Will Messi light up the league and other cup campaigns? Will Mbappe move on or stay and how will the front three play together? How will his return to Barca play out should the two teams meet up?

Ligue 1 will be more popular for PSG matches and with Lille winning it last season, how will they fair against this PSG?

Don't forget who else has gone to the team as well.

If PSG doesnt win the CL with Mbappe, Neymar and Messi, then they should just dissolve :D, coz this is better than any lineup in FIFA... But for sure now PSG fanbase will become teenage kids from Indonesia or Middle East, many real fans may turn away from supporting them

@quikzyyy Oh boy that would be funny. XD

@DarthFooty Congrats for you mate, it all happened too fast to my taste but damn, PSG has just become freaking terrifying, hopefully, Poch manage to produce the results such a lineup should produce.

Alright well clearly that dude lost his money who bet on Messi to join his boyhood team. Psg looks more than good. Let's see what they can do in Europe. I wonder if Messi will be motivated enough. I'm definitely excited to see Messi and Ramos on the same team.

Do you think PSG will win Ligue 1?

^ it is what it is. Like I said for some it's chump change bud.

you know exactly what i mean. Comparing quality of the leagues based on knockout tournaments performance isn't the way nor it League 1 being close competitiveness amongst teams doesn't make it best league in europe.

i was truly hoping for Messi to come to EPL. Best league by far in europe, but i know pride and arrogance doesn't allow many fans to admit it. yet money and top players keep flowing to epl despite your believes

i said it 10 years ago and 10 years from now Epl might even become simply NBa of europe unless Super League happens

Montpellier wins Ligue 1 in 2011/12 (the season of takeover of PSG). PSG signs Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Lavezzi and Verratti.
Monaco wins Ligue 1 in 2016/17, PSG signs Mbappe and Neymar.
Lille wins Ligue 1 in 2020/21, PSG signs Messi, Hakimi, Ramos, Wijnaldum, and Dollaruma

dreams can be buy

@quikzyyy I see you been on reddit/soccer mate. XD

@Marcus and @Marcos

I cannot speak for France obviously, but in the MLS we measured the success of the domestic league by 1) how it improved the national team 2) how able it was to receive big fees for players, and 3) how it performed in international competitions. In that order.

France's Euro 2021 squad had only 4 players on it who played in Ligue 1 at clubs not named PSG (Ben Yedder, Dubios, Mandana, and Maigan). None of these players played a single minute in the tournament. Oof.

The average transfer revenue for the league is very large, averaging 15-20m a club over the last five years. That's very high, but also cements Ligue 1 as a development league that cannot retain its players. In MLS this is a good thing, because we don't expect to be able to compete with Europe and the UCL, but obviously that's a bit more concerning given what Ligue 1 is attempting to accomplish.

Outside of PSG, French teams do not perform very well in the UCL and UEL. The league's current UEFA coefficent is literally held together nearly solely by PSG. If you removed PSG, Ligue 1 has a lower coefficent then Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Russia. Lyon is the next strongest French club by this metric and Shaktar in the Ukraine have a higher one. Oof.

Finally, looking at wage bills:
PSG: 202m last season, at LEAST 258m this season, maybe more.
Monaco: 49m
Lyon: 48m

TL:DR

By the normal metrics of deciding league strength, Ligue 1 is not in a good place. PSG is so far ahead of everyone else it's not even worth comparing. That they lost the league last year to a team with less than a tenth of their wage bill is hilarious and yet also speaks to the fact that Ligue 1 is absolutely a farmer's league.

@Marcus2011

Acording to you, the quality of a league is based on knockout tournaments performance, right? With that logic in mind, consider this:

"Top 10 of UEFA competition winners by League:

1. La Liga (62 trophies)
2. Serie A (46 trophies)
3. Premier League(41 trophies)
4. Bundesliga (32 trophies)
5. Ligue 1 (24 trophies)
6. Eredivisie (16 trophies)
7. Primeira Liga (10 trophies)
8. Jupiler Pro League (7 trophies)
9. Ukrainian Premier League (4 trophies)
10. Russian Premier Liga (3 trophies)"

As you can see, the premier league isn't even on 2º place acording with your logic, so calm down Michael Jordan! Football is much bigger than basketball, and is much bigger than the premier league!

I love watching the premier league, and for me is the most entertaining league in the world, but their is more football outside of it... And very good football! Is ignorate and arrogante to assume that all the good players are/should be in the premier league.

You guys always like to complicate this arguments.

Forget about national team. English FA doesn't give crap about national team until recently after government pressured them to care more. Otherwise they only care how much money they will make from TV rights and sponsors. There is a simple truth: EPL brand sells and competition is stiff. Never know which team might win the league.

I said DON"T compare leagues based on the performance of clubs in UEFA champions league knockout because 4th place Chelsea won it last year so does that make Chelsea best club in EPL? On that day of the final Chelsea was simply better than City, but entire season City was amazing.

After Messi left La liga, i bet ratings will go down even more. Not to mention big and apparently one of the most successful clubs of last decades almost went bankrupt. Not to mention other smaller clubs that can't even pay wages to their players sometimes.

Bottom line media loves EPL because it sells better. EPL is top place for players now days if they want big fame, rigorous season with tough competition and big money where even Jack Grealish is being sold for 100 mil quids because buying club can afford it and selling club can afford to keep him.

Your logic is based on BS my friend. BUSINESS and FOOTBALL are married by now. League one is sht business even PSG owners realized it by now looking at City's and Chelsea's success.

@SunFlash

Ok, so in you logic, the domestic league sucess is based on:

1) how it improved the national team;

France are world champion! Their are n.º1 in the world! The national team can't get any better! Saying that only 4 players came from Ligue 1 it doesn't matter! All of the players (or atlest almost all) pass through the Ligue 1. So their club are doing a very good job at recruting young players! They are the best at it! Ligue 1 is the best league to improve their national team. I thing their is no argument here!

2) how able it was to receive big fees for players;

In the last 10 years, this is the list of the most profitable clubs regarding players transfers (acording with transfermarkt):

1- Benfica (1.14 Bil €)
2- Atl. Madrid (1.04 Bil €)
3- Chelsea (1.02 Bil €)
4- Juventus (1.02 Bil €)
5- Monaco (986,75 M €)
...

17- LOSC Lille (624,69 M €)
...

19- Olympique Lyon (592,59 M €)
...

26- PSG (460,25 M €)
...

46- Olympique Marselha (305,29 M €)

I think is not that bad in this category. Ligue 1 clubs are not the best, but they are able to receive big fees for players.

3) how it performed in international competitions

I respond to this point on my previous coment. Ligue 1 in the 5º position, with isn't bad at all.

Putting all together, Ligue 1 isn't the best league in the world, but isn't that bad as some of you may consider!

@Marcus2011

I know what you mean and I agree. The EPL is where the money and fame is. Their is no doubt about it. The EPL is the best and most entertaining domestic league right now!

But their are other good and entertaining leagues! Isn't all about the money and business. Its about the passion! Money can't buy passion! That's why the EPL clubs aren't n.º 1 in the internacional competitions (historically). Thats why Man Utd lost the UEFA cup to Villareal last seasion! That's why Lille won the Ligue 1 last season! That's why Messi wanted to stay at Barcelona even receiving less money!

Passion is bigger then money!

@SunFlash:
So....

First of, why take PSG out of ligue 1? It is a part of it so the point of this excercice is futile.

but ANYWAYS lets take them out but at least lets take out n1 clubs from POR, NED, RUS and BEL as well. Doing this, the highest club from those leagues is Lyon at n19 in the fifa coef. ranking. After comes Benfica at n.26, CSK Moscow at n.38 and PSV at n.56.... As of each country's 3rd best team, the only one above Monaco (n.40) is Sporting (n.32). And the gap gets bigger with other nations as we go on...
So if we take out the best team of all these countries (wich i dont understand why we would) the only nation that can coompete with France here is Portugal. So I really dont understand what you are saying...

What is "hilarious" (to quote you) is how historical super teams suck the talent from other countries do to mechanisms that create an even bigger gap between them and the small clubs/leagues.

I could keep going about ALL the points you have tried to make but you are so biased in your analysis that I'll just stop here.

So just to sum up:

• PSG is OF COURSE a club you can point your finger at for many reasons, but you can also do this to most big clubs/leagues VERY EASILY (taxes fraud, super league pressure, not respecting rules such as barca with youth recrutment, massive debts, list goes on...). (For exemple, without PSG, other big teams would keep sucking the talent out of the french league)
• Calling league 1 a farmer's league when it's the country that creates the most talents (french players + foreign players that go through french youth academies) is just hateful and plain stupid. And using that terminology just shows us how you think and who you are : a biased person that twists information to fit your narrative...

Respect should always be the most important part of debating and you lack it.

@Emobot7 absolutely, love reading through all the opinions of other people!

@Marcos @Second

Those aren't my criteria. They are literally the 3 primary criteria that an actual league (the MLS) uses to assess its growth.

France's national team are World Cup winners, and many of their players were developed in Ligue 1. That's a good thing. However, as was pointed out, none of those players who actually make a difference (with the exception of Mbappe) play in Ligue 1, and those that do play in the league play for for PSG. In addition, Ligue 1 sells on their young French players, who then go on to make a difference in other leagues, not Ligue 1. Again, not a bad thing. League is financially healthy and self-sustainable as a development league. But that's what it is. A development league.

Those big fees the clubs receive are proof of that. Outside of the EPL (and much of that is made up of internal transfers) no one makes more money selling on average then French teams. But again, that does not indicate a top league, because they're selling their best players to other leagues.

And yes Marcos, Ligue 1 is 5th in the coefficient. But they're 5th in the coefficient with PSG making the semis and the final of the UCL in the last two years, and the coefficient only goes back five years. As I said, PSG is singly-handedly carrying Ligue 1's coefficient.

We can make assumptions all we like about it, but the numbers say what they say, and that's that without PSG France is on par or slightly worse in UEFA's equation than Portugal and the Netherlands with all variables equaled out (same number of teams in UEFA competitions, for one).

It's probably worth pointing out that I hate UEFA's equation, but since it is actually used to measure leagues professionally, it's worth using in these discussions. But it is flawed for a number of reasons (the most obvious of which is that if a team misses a European competition they get a zero - obviously the club does not suddenly suck - they just were in a different league that had a higher standard). Aka how Salzburg in Austria can have a very high rating just for showing up. But that's by the by.

TL:DR

Calling league 1 a farmer's league when it's the country that creates the most talents (french players + foreign players that go through french youth academies) is just hateful and plain stupid. And using that terminology just shows us how you think and who you are : a biased person that twists information to fit your narrative...

You're so close here. Ligue 1 creates great players. Those players just don't play in Ligue 1. And because every other club sells its best and most promising players, while PSG recruits the best players in the world (the discrepancy which can be seen in the wage bill), Ligue 1 is the single most unbalanced league that is relevant.

And while I am bias (I believe that PSG and how it is run is a geopolitical disgrace, let alone a sports one), I do not see how that changes the numbers or principles looked at in this thread. The personal attacks are not appreciated, and I will do you the favor not coming to your level.