To Saudi Arabia and Spain, where he was expected, Lionel Messi preferred the United States. The 2022 world champion announced on Wednesday June 7 that he was going to join Inter Miami, which plays in the North American championship (Major League Soccer, MLS).
“I’ve decided I’m going to Miami, I don’t have [a deal] 100% done or maybe there are things to do, but we’ve decided to continue our journey there ( …) Now is the time to go to MLS and experience football in a different way,” the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner told Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo.
“It was two years where I wasn’t happy, I didn’t like it. And it was affecting my family life, I was missing out on a lot of my children’s life at school. In Barcelona, ??I was going to look for them, here I did it much less, I shared fewer activities with them, “he said, explaining that he now intended to prioritize his family life.
After the end of his adventure at PSG, the Argentine star, who will soon be 36, had the choice between three destinations: a return to the fold in Barcelona, ??his training club, the call of petrodollars from Saudi Arabia, which already seduced Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, or Major League Soccer, on the other side of the Atlantic.
Failure of negotiations with Barça
It is finally under the sun of Miami that Messi 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 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. Senior leaders of the Riyadh club, Al-Hilal, had even made the trip to Paris on Sunday to try to conclude the agreement, Agence France-Presse had learned from sources close to the talks.
But Messi’s ultimate desire was above all to find Barça, which 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 training 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,” the player explained 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 [Barcelona leaders] 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 he “understands and respects 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. »
Incomparable publicity for the American championship
FC Barcelona out of the race, the track of Inter Miami has therefore logically arrived at the top of the list despite Messi’s desire to remain in a high-level championship with a view to the Copa America in 2024. 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 a subscription to follow the American championship, the MLS Season Pass, on its Apple TV service. 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.
For MLS, which now focuses 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 crosses so many barriers that he can be more important than any athlete in any sport that has ever played here in the United States,” summed up, in recent weeks , Major League Soccer boss Don Garber.
The presence of Messi, who already has a residence in Miami, will also be an obvious plus in the promotion of the 2026 World Cup, co-organized by the United States with Canada and Mexico.