It's not necessarily Messi going to PSG that's the seismic event here, in my opinion, it's Messi leaving Barcelona and La Liga behind. It's the end of an era for Barcelona and La Liga really, and it's going to be hard to see how they both claw their relevance back. For so long, between Zidane's move to Real Madrid and Real Madrid's Champions League win in 2018, La Liga was the place to go to see the world's most famous stars (Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Ronaldinho, Iniesta, Xavi, C. Ronaldo, Messi), to see real tactical innovation, and to see the roots of Spain's all-dominating team between 2008 and 2012.
Whatever La Liga had, though, they've squandered. They let Barcelona and Real Madrid get so big that the league system underneath them started crumbling, the money throughout the rest of La Liga was almost non-existent, and now Barca and Madrid are on the decline there's very little to keep things ticking over. They've all been rowing for years about TV money, stadium attendances and upkeep, ticket prices, and it's all become too much to sustain. Messi and Ronaldo alone were papering over so many cracks. First Ronaldo left, and now Messi's gone.
Say what you will about the Premier League, when one giant stumbles there's always someone else to step in. It successfully markets itself as a brilliant product with equal amounts of competition and quality that provides world-beating entertainment. Whenever one giant stumbles, someone else always steps in. The first 10 years of the Premier League were defined by the great battles between United and Arsenal, then the next 5/6 years saw United and Chelsea go head to head, until City, Leicester, and Liverpool came along just as United and Arsenal fell away.
People buy into the romance of the Premier League, regardless of whether the romance exists or not. Even during barren years on a European stage, when no English team reached a Champions League final between 2013 and 2017, the TV money kept piling up and big stars from other leagues kept coming over. Things like the Aguero goal, Leicester winning the title, etc. are "moments the Premier League provides that no other league can", and so forth.
La Liga, on the other hand, has spent 12 years selling its drama and emotion on the big clashes between Messi and Ronaldo, with very little else to support it. Now they're gone, what's going to prop it up? For years, La Liga was the centre of European football, but the danger signs have been there for years and it looks very old hat now. The TV deals are smaller than before, all the big stars are leaving for other leagues, Madrid are currently taking Tebas to court over something or other, Barca and Madrid are still desperate for the Super League to happen.
2021 will be the first year since 2008 to see a Ballon d'Or winner not come from La Liga. It would have happened last year, had Lewandowski not been denied it by COVID-19, but it was merely a delay of the inevitable.
I'm not saying La Liga can never rise to the top again, because it absolutely can, but as an organisation and a league they've been in a mess for years and now the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Five years ago they threatened to fine teams who had visible empty seats on TV, and the league season nearly didn't end in 2015 because of a strike over TV rights. This lot couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, and now they have to navigate their way out of the biggest shock La Liga has suffered in years.
Good luck!
