Torn between offers from Barça, his lifelong club, and the new Saudi Eldorado, Lionel Messi finally opted for Inter Miami and the North American championship (MLS), which offers itself an exceptional spotlight by hosting the Argentinian 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 decided I was going to Miami, I didn’t [un accord] 100% done or maybe there are still things to do but we decided to move on there […] Now is the time to go to MLS and experience football in a different way,” Messi revealed to Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo on Wednesday before Inter Miami confirmed the news on Twitter.
It is therefore under the Florida sun that the seven-time 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.
“If it had been a question of money, I would have gone to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere”, assured whose ultimate desire was above all to find his beloved Barça, whom he had to leave 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.
“I really wanted to come back, I was really looking forward to it, explained the player on Wednesday. But after going through what I went through, after the exit that I had… I didn’t want to go through the same situation again and wait to see what was going to happen. I didn’t want to leave my future in the hands of others. I heard that they (Barcelona directors) had to sell players or lower player salaries and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that. »
In a statement released by the Blaugrana club, Barça president Joan Laporta said “understand and respect Messi’s decision to play in a league with lower expectations, away from the spotlight and the pressure he has been under. object in recent years. »
In Castelldefels, near Barcelona, where Messi lived when he wore the Blaugrana shirt, club supporter Jesus Usilla felt his return would have required reorganizing everything around him. “The best thing that can happen with his age is that he doesn’t continue to mortgage Barcelona’s future, that he leaves for good, that he does very well,” he said. he told AFP.
FC Barcelona offside, the track of Inter Miami logically arrived at the top of the pile.
Incomparable advertising
To complete the transfer, the East Coast club benefited from the income generated by the 10-year agreement concluded for 2.5 billion dollars in the spring between MLS and Apple, which offers on its Apple TV + service a subscription for follow the American championship.
Adidas, lifetime sponsor of Messi as well as of the MLS since its creation in 1996, would also offer a sharing of the benefits expected from the Argentine’s involvement in the North American championship.
Messi’s contract, like Beckham’s in its day, would also have an option for him to buy shares in an MLS franchise at the end of his League career.
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.
“Pelé changed the sport in North America by introducing people to what football is,” former American international Taylor Twellman, now a consultant for Apple TV, told AFP, referring to the arrival of the “king” at the New York Cosmos in 1975.
“Messi will be all of this and more because MLS has the infrastructure and the World Cup as a launching pad for this rocket to the moon,” he continued, his gaze already focused on promoting the 2026 World Cup. , co-hosted by the United States with Canada and Mexico.