Paris: Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who left Barcelona after 21 years last week, has signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, with the option of an additional year, the French club announced on Tuesday.
Messi, 34, will wear the number 30, the number he had when he began his professional career at Barca, and is set to be unveiled by PSG at a press conference they have called for 11am (1pm UAE) Wednesday.
"I am excited to begin a new chapter of my career at Paris Saint-Germain," he said in a statement on the club's website.
"Everything about the club matches my football ambitions," Messi, who was given a hero's welcome by the PSG fans when he arrived in the French capital on Tuesday, added.
"I know how talented the squad and the coaching staff are here.
"I am determined to help build something special for the club and the fans, and I am looking forward to stepping out onto the pitch at the Parc des Princes."
Messi earlier touched down in Paris following his abrupt departure from Barcelona.
Messi and his father Jorge arrived at Barcelona airport after the agreement was reached. Later, Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo posed smiling inside a private jet en route to Paris. He touched down around 5.30pm UAE time and greeted fans from a window wearing a 'Paris' T-shirt.
Asked by reporters at the airport if his son would sign for PSG, Jorge Messi replied: "Yes." The destination of the plane carrying Messi, 34, was not immediately confirmed but Messi arrived in the French capital later on Tuesday.
PSG fans were crowded outside Le Bourget airport in Paris as they awaited his arrival, even more crowded at PSG's Parc de Princes stadium.
Messi established himself as one of the greatest footballers of all time during a glittering, trophy-laden career at Barcelona, the club he joined as a schoolboy.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner, wept on Sunday as he bade farewell to his boyhood team, after the club said it could no longer afford to keep him because of La Liga's fair play rules.
At PSG, Messi will make an already formidable frontline even stronger. Messi's former Barcelona team mate Neymar and young France striker Kylian Mbappe are already at the club and are seen as two of the world's best players.
But the arrival of Messi, Barcelona's all-time record scorer with 682 goals, will boost the club's ambitions to win a first ever Champions League.
Messi is the latest big-name arrival at PSG on a free transfer this summer after coach Mauricio Pochettino's side snapped up Spanish defender Sergio Ramos after he left Real Madrid. Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum also joined after running down his contract with Liverpool.
