Messi on Wednesday announced he would sign for Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, with the US as his next goal for a Barcelona convention or a blockbuster deal to play in Saudi Arabia.
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Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi, widely considered one among the best footballers of all time, turned down a very lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, selecting as a substitute to work with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.
The blockbuster announcement comes after months of intense speculation over whether the 35-year-old could return to his beloved Barcelona, the Spanish club he moved to as a teenager but reluctantly left in 2021. Nevertheless, this has all the time seemed unlikely given the club’s long-running problem in coping with La Liga’s Financial Fair Play rules.
It was widely believed that Messi, who led Argentina to victory eventually yr’s World Cup, would opt to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia after parting ways with French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Unexpectedly, Messi on Wednesday said he had chosen the Miami franchise.
“I actually have made the choice that I’m going to Miami,” Messi revealed in an interview with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport, according to the interpretation.
“I still have not closed it 100%. I’m still missing a few things, but we have decided to move forward. If Barcelona didn’t come out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the highlight and think more about my family.”
Messi said he felt it was time to join the American League “to experience football in a different way and enjoy on a regular basis life.”
He added: “After all, with the identical responsibility and desire to want to win and all the time do every thing right. But with more peace.
The defeat of Saudi Arabia’s sporting ambitions
The deal means the world soccer icon is not going to follow longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo and French striker Karim Benzema in moving to Saudi Arabia.
The Central Eastern Gulf country, which is fast becoming a major player on the earth of sports, staged something of a coup d’état just 24 hours earlier thanks to the announcement of the shocking merger between the breakaway LIV Golf circuit and the US PGA Tour.
Rejection by Messi A reported The $400 million-a-year deal, a colossal sum even by football’s breathtaking standards, deals a blow to Riyadh’s ambitions to bring the game’s biggest players to the highest division.
Last month, Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, negative speculation that his son was ready to move to Saudi Arabia after French media reported it was “settled”.
This comes after PSG suspended Messi, who was revealed last yr as a tourism ambassador for the oil-rich country, for making a trip to Saudi Arabia and missing a training session as a result.
“If it was a matter of cash, I might go to [Saudi] Saudi Arabia or anywhere else where they offered me a lot of cash,” Messi said.
DRV PNK Stadium, home to the Inter Miami skilled soccer team, on June 7, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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One among the owners of Inter Miami, Jorge Mas, preceded Messi’s announcement by sharing a picture of his silhouette, fueling speculation concerning the player’s imminent arrival in South Beach, Florida.
“We’re pleased that Lionel Messi has stated that he intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” said MLS. he said in a statement, adding that a number of the finer details still need to be worked out.
“While work remains to be underway to finalize a formal deal, we glance forward to welcoming one among the all-time best players to our league,” the league said.