Lionel Messi announces he has chosen Inter Miami to continue his career

The American dream begins for Lionel Messi. At 35, the man with seven Ballons d’Or will join Inter Miami, in the United States, to play in Major League Soccer, as announced in an interview with the Spanish media Mundo Deportivo and Sport. Free on June 30, when the contract binding him to Paris Saint-Germain expires, the Argentinian has already made his choice. “I made the decision to go to Miami. It’s not 100% done yet. There are still a few details to settle but we have decided to choose this path”explained the latter.

There will be no return to FC Barcelona, ​​nor departure (like other stars) to Saudi Arabia. The 2022 world champion therefore opted for MLS and more specifically Inter Miami. He joined the club created in 2018 by David Beckham, himself passed by PSG (in 2013) before retiring. The English star is also the president of this franchise which joined the MLS in 2020, and which evolves in Fort Laudersdale while waiting for its brand new stadium, the Miami Freedom Park, planned for 2025. In Florida, Lionel Messi will succeed his compatriot Gonzalo Higuain, Inter Miami’s top scorer for the past two seasons and a young retiree.

In the footsteps of Pelé

The 2022 world champion will also follow in the footsteps of a 2018 world champion, since Blaise Matuidi played there for two seasons (2020-2022), before hanging up his crampons. Another parallel difficult not to draw, the one with Pelé. The Brazilian genius, in his time, had also opted for the United States at the end of his career, on the side of the New York Cosmos. If many big names at the end of the career have joined the ranks of MLS in recent years (Ibrahimovic, Beckham, Henry, Villa …), the arrival of the Brazilian star in New York in 1975 is the only comparable in term of impact to that of Lionel Messi, 48 years later.