More than half of the shirts sold by Paris Saint-Germain bear Lionel Messi’s name

Lionel Messi has helped Paris Saint-Germain take a leap forward in terms of merchandising according to Marca. The Argentine has made an incalculable impact in terms of how the French club are perceived worldwide, but one quantifiable element is shirt sales.

The arrival of Neymar Junior and Kylian Mbappe in the summer of 2017 helped PSG break one million units of shirts sold for the first time ever in 2018 but Messi’s arrival has taken things to another level. 54% of the shirts sold by the club bear his name and number according to Fabio Allegre, PSG’s director of marketing.

And that’s without Messi even hitting the heights we’ve grown accustomed to expecting from him. The former Barcelona man has provided two goals and eight assists in Ligue 1 so far this season while scoring five goals in the Champions League.

His biggest test so far as a PSG player comes tonight when his club welcome the mighty Real Madrid to the Parc des Princes in the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition. It promises to be an magnificent battle between two star-studded teams.