Lionel Messi's reported transfer to Saudi Arabian team showcases changes in soccer world

On arguably the biggest week of the European soccer season, amid title races in various countries, with relegation fights being bitterly fought, hours before a pair of blockbuster Champions League semifinals, came reports of news that could overshadow it all.

Lionel Messi, according to multiple reports, appears to be heading to Saudi Arabia for what are expected to be the closing years of his legendary career (Messi's father said Tuesday no deal has been agreed upon).

The World Cup-winning Argentina superstar has long been expected to leave Paris Saint-Germain, where he has become increasingly disgruntled, at the end of the current season.

Yet while rumors perpetually swirled about interest from the Middle East following Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr following the World Cup, so too had it come to feel like other options might tilt his decision-making.

Barcelona, the club where he ruled the roost for so long, was said to be formulating a package to bring Messi back, despite its severe financial difficulties. Major League Soccer's Inter Miami, co-owned by David Beckham, thought they were in play.

If Tuesday's reports prove accurate, money will have spoken the loudest. Reports have Messi's salary at an incredible $657 million (likely spread across two years), which would leapfrog him over Ronaldo as the highest-earning athlete on the planet — he was No. 2 this past year.

Though an AFP report did not state a specific team as his destination, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr's hated rival and the personal club of the king of Saudi Arabia, appears to be the setting where he can resume a personal rivalry with Ronaldo that has lasted more than 15 years.

Messi flew to the Saudi capital of Riyadh last week as part of his $30 million sponsorship deal with that country's tourism agency. It did not go down well with PSG chiefs, who subsequently suspended him for two weeks, though that ban was cut after he later apologized.

Yet it has become increasingly clear that Messi and his camp have forged deep links with the Saudi hierarchy, frequently appearing in commercials and even hosting a travel television documentary about the country.

Messi has made a fortune during his career, but if anything, a move to Saudi Arabia would show that even someone with his level of personal wealth can have their head turned by a salary package drastically in excess of what could or would be offered elsewhere.

The impending move is not without controversy. Saudi Arabia has been accused of sportwashing, essentially bankrolling high-profile athletics to try to improve an international image tarnished by the "heinous murder" in 2018 — according to the U.S. Department of State — of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is the primary backer for the LIV Golf breakaway tour, the Middle Eastern nation has hosted Formula 1 races and major boxing and WWE cards, and it is beginning to make serious waves about a bid for the 2030 World Cup.

Now it appears to be on the verge of featuring two of the most famous soccer players on the planet in the Saudi Pro League, which is trying to establish itself as an emerging option set up to eventually rival some of the top competitions in the sport.

This is not what most people would have drawn up as the dream finale for Messi. It is not how the soccer purists would have liked for things to happen. For most of them, a heartwarming return to Barca would have been the way to go. If not for the muddle Barca has gotten itself in, most prominently with an investigation into whether it bribed a refereeing official for preferential treatment, that's how it may have gone down.

But there is little point in complaining about soccer's new realities, because, in truth, they are not so new.

Oil money from the Middle East and Russia has come to dominate the game. English Premier League favorite Manchester City has become the dominant force in English soccer since being purchased by an Abu Dhabi investment consortium.

Chelsea was rescued from bankruptcy and won the Champions League less than a decade later, after being bought by Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil magnate with close ties to Vladimir Putin.

No romantic end, then? Truth be told, the dream crescendo to Messi's career has already happened. Whatever takes place from this point forward, nothing could ever match that incredible December night at Qatar's Lusail Stadium, when Argentina staved off a furious France fightback to lift the World Cup trophy, prevailing on penalty kicks.

It was the culmination of an international career that had seen him win every individual and club honor imaginable, but never the most glittering prize of all.

Now, the man who is arguably the most popular athlete on the planet steps into a new challenge. One that is contentious in nature, is highlighted by an astonishing financial figure, and, more than anything, shows that these are changing times in the world of soccer.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.