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Former Bayern Munich target Georginio Wijnaldum has decided to join Paris Saint-Germain instead of Barcelona. He looked set to join the Catalan giants, but PSG stepped in at the final hour and were able to get the Dutch international to agree to a three-year contract that runs through June 2024 (ESPN).
Wijnaldum had made it clear that he did not plan on extending his contract with Liverpool and that he would be leaving the club after the season ended. As recently as the end of last month, his agent had spoken with Barcelona president Joan Laporta about the move and a medical had even been arranged to finalize the deal. However, PSG stepped in at the final hour with an offer that Wijnaldum couldn’t resist.
Per sources close to ESPN, PSG offered to double the amount that Barcelona was offering for Wijnaldum in their package and it was also revealed that Mauricio Pochettino personally called him as well. Both of things combined ultimately made the decision easy for Wijnaldum. Whether this last stitch tactic from PSG was planned and deliberate isn’t entirely clear, but Barcelona will certainly felt hard done by having missed out on Wijnaldum’s signature. Per Fabrizio Romano, PSG are also prepping to sign AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma in the near future.
PSG are set to complete the signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma in the next hours, Juventus are out of the race - he’s gonna ask Paris for n99 shirt. To be clear: Keylor Navas is staying. #PSG
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 7, 2021
Wijnaldum contract until 2024 has been already signed, medicals now then done deal.
Back in May, Wijnaldum was also linked with a move to Bayern. They had gone as far as contacting his representatives to discuss a potential move to Bavaria from Liverpool and it was reported at the time the discussions were going well. On paper, the move made good sense for Bayern, who are losing Javi Martinez in midfield this summer and are uncertain about the future of Corentin Tolisso. Wijnaldum could’ve proven to be an excellent addition to Bayern’s midfield under Julian Nagelsmann for a pretty affordable fee, but Bayern was not willing to offer as much as Barcelona was. At the time, it looked as if Barcelona were going to beat out Bayern and PSG wasn’t really in the conversation as much, but they came in with their late offer.