2023-06-07 22:12:08
Courted by Barça and Saudi Arabia, the seven-time Ballon d’Or will join MLS. At least, that’s his intention, although there are still details to be ironed out.
The American dream for Lionel Messi. Eager to return to FC Barcelona, as his father and representative Jorge Messi said, and courted by the Saudi club Al-Hilal, with a pharaonic offer of up to… 500 million euros a year (! ), the seven-time Argentine Golden Ball finally chose to respond to the sirens of MLS and Inter Miami dear to David Beckham. The interested party confirmed this on Tuesday in an interview with two Catalan media (SPORT, Sports world), shortly after a tweet that already left no room for doubt from the owner of the American club, Jorge Mas. Inter Miami CF then communicated on its social networks.
«I made the decision to go to Miami. It’s not 100% done. There are still some things (to be settled) but we have decided to continue on the path“, indicated the player, at the end of the contract in Paris and who should receive a little less than 50 M€ per year in Florida to believe RMC .
Barcelona connection?
In Miami, he will play alongside French striker Corentin Jean, who passed through Troyes, Toulouse, Lens and Monaco. The ex-Parisian could especially be joined by several of his former teammates at Barça, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, courted by Miami according to various sources. “I made my decision by myself and I don’t know what they will do», assure Lionel Messi.
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If he decided to cross the Atlantic, the native of Rosario would have preferred to return to Barça, his favorite club. He is not shy about it. “I was very excited to be able to come back“, he underlines, he who finally decided not to wait until the Catalan club is really in a position to be able to recruit him. Which could very well have never happened. “There was still a lot to do“, He promises, even if La Liga had, a priori, opened the door to the plan proposed by the Barcelona management. In fact, the Spanish champion has never made a concrete and firm offer. Messi has spoken a lot with Xavi, the coach, but only a handful of times with President Laporta. When asked if Barça did everything to recruit him, he replied: “I don’t know. It’s their problem. Honestly, I don’t know if he went all out or not».
I wasn’t happy for those two years, I didn’t have fun.
Lionel Messi on his two years at PSG
«I’m also in a moment where I want to get out of focus a bit, to think more about my family. I spent two years so hard at the family level that I want to find pleasure with my family and my children on a daily basis“Adds Leo Messi, specifying that this decision has been made”with family“. If he passedtwo difficult yearsis that the former Newell’s has never quite felt at home in Paris. Although, Messi still felt “very, very well at the club and in the city with (his) familyduring the first part of the past season, before the World Cup. “I expected a different ending“, he breathes. And to continue:I wasn’t happy during those two years, I didn’t have fun and it affected my family life. My decision is also motivated by this, the idea of reuniting, in quotation marks, with my family and my children, and enjoying everyday».
Lionel Messi world champion in Qatar, the achievement of a lifetime for the Argentinian. HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
One thing is certain: for the sevenfold Ballon d’Or, it was Barcelona or “quitter l’Europe“. Clear, crisp and precise. “I had offers from other European teams but I didn’t even evaluate them because my idea was to go to Barcelona and, it was not done, to leave European football. Especially after winning the World Cup. It was what I needed to end my career on this side (of the Atlantic) and go to the United States, enjoy much more from day to day, with greater peace of mind, but with the same responsibility to want to win and always do things right“, Details the one who will be one of the favorites for the next Ballon d’Or.
Read alsoLionel Messi at PSG: Much ado about nothing?
In the footsteps of Henry, Zlatan and Pelé
By joining MLS, Messi will follow in the footsteps of Beckham, Thierry Henry, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and even Wayne Rooney in recent years. Brazilian legend Pelé also played in the land of Uncle Sam in the 1970s, under the colors of New York Cosmos, a North American Soccer League (NASL) club. In the United States, the native of Rosario will have the opportunity to continue to evolve in an environment competitive enough to hope to play the next Copa America in the best conditions. And the next World Cup, in 2026, too?
Read alsoPSG: Galtier “accepts” the whistles against him but judges those who were addressed to Messi “surreal”
Messi remains on a season with 21 goals and 20 assists in 41 matches with Paris-SG. Not enough to enter the hearts of the supporters, who still whistled him until the ceremony for the presentation of the French champion trophy last Saturday, at the Parc des Princes. “It’s very hard. I find it surrealgot carried away Christophe Galtier, the future-ex Parisian coach. Leo had a great season. I dare to hope that people, cold, will have a little more lucidity on what Leo could bring this season to the team.No doubt he will be showered with love and praise in the United States…
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