Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi’s move to spend the final years of his stellar career in Saudi Arabia, according to a source close to the negotiations, will come as a crushing blow to Barcelona fans who dreamed of a return to the club that nurtured him.

In fact, 35-year-old Messi will be following a well-trodden path of the greats of the ‘Beautiful Game’ by taking a lucrative pay day in football’s backwaters.

Here AFP Sport picks out four examples:

Read full story on www.sportsdesk.com.mt

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.