Lionel Messi will join Inter Miami, which plays in the North American championship, the Argentine superstar announced on Wednesday in an interview with Spanish media. La Pulga, who also said he “wasn’t happy” during his two years in Paris, chose the United States over a return to Barcelona or Saudi Arabia.
Published on : 07/06/2023 – 21:43Modified : 07/06/2023 – 21:50
He was expected in Saudi Arabia, then in Barcelona… Lionel Messi finally opted for the United States and Inter Miami, which offers itself an exceptional spotlight by welcoming the Argentine legend.
After the end of his adventure at PSG, the world champion, 35, had the choice between three destinations: a return to the fold in Barcelona, his training club, the call of petrodollars from Saudi Arabia, which have already seduced Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, or Major League Soccer, across the Atlantic.
“I’ve decided I’m going to Miami, I don’t have 100% (a deal) done or maybe there’s still things to do, but we’ve decided to move on there.” , said the seven-time Ballon d’Or on Wednesday, June 7, to the Spanish newspapers, Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo.
The Argentinian striker also said he was “not happy” in Paris, where he played two seasons without shining in the PSG jersey. “It was two years where I wasn’t happy, I didn’t like it. And it was affecting my family life, I was missing a lot of my children’s life at school. In Barcelona, I was going to them. search, here I did it much less, I shared fewer activities with them”, he said, explaining that he now intended to prioritize his family life.
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Messi will not find his beloved Barça
It is finally under the sun of Miami that the sevenfold Ballon d’Or will undoubtedly write the last pages of his immense career, within a franchise belonging to David Beckham and American billionaires Jorge and Jose Mas. The choice of Messi, the result of long negotiations carried out in particular on his behalf by his father Jorge, who manages his interests, is rather a surprise as the Argentinian seemed close to committing to a Saudi club.
To lure him into his nets, the kingdom was ready for all the madness, a salary of 400 million euros per season having been advanced by several media. Senior leaders of Al-Hilal had even made the trip to Paris on Sunday to try to conclude the deal, AFP had learned from sources close to the talks. In early May, a Saudi source told AFP that the transfer was “a done deal”.
But Messi’s ultimate desire was above all to find his beloved Barça, whom he had to leave with a heavy heart in 2021 to join PSG, the Catalan club being unable to keep him for financial reasons.
These are the same reasons that derailed “Operation Return” even though Jorge Messi assured Monday that this option was his son’s preference. But the management of the blaugrana formation had to wait for the Spanish League to validate its economic viability plan before being able to consider recruiting the Pulga. Something to cool the ardor of the Messi clan.
The Inter Miami track has therefore logically arrived at the top of the pile despite Messi’s desire to stay in a top league with a view to the Copa America in 2024.
Spotlight on the MLS for the Mondial-2026
To complete the transfer, the East Coast club benefited from the income generated by the agreement concluded in the spring between MLS and Apple, which offers on its Apple TV + service a subscription to follow the American championship, the MLS Season Pass. This agreement was signed for 2.5 billion current dollars over ten years. On Tuesday, Apple TV + also announced the upcoming broadcast of a four-part documentary series, retracing the five World Cups played by Messi.
“The League wanted to be very creative. Everything is on the table,” assured a source within the MLS, whose offer includes contributions from Apple and Adidas, its two largest commercial partners. Adidas, life sponsor of Messi as well as of the MLS since its creation in 1996, would thus propose an agreement based on a sharing of the benefits expected from the Argentine’s involvement in the MLS.
Messi’s contract would also have an option for him to buy shares in an MLS franchise at the end of his career in the North American league. It is this process from which Beckham, also passed by PSG, had benefited to acquire Inter Miami after the end of his contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
For MLS, which has now focused its development on the reinforcement of young people and no longer of old glories as in its beginnings, the arrival of Messi constitutes incomparable publicity. “I think of him as someone who breaks through so many barriers that he can be more important than any athlete in any sport that has ever played here in the United States,” said Don Garber, the MLS boss.
The presence of Messi, who already has a residence in Miami, would also be an obvious plus in the promotion of the World Cup-2026, co-organized with Canada and Mexico.
With AFP
