Messi on Wednesday notified he will sign for Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, choosing the United States as his next terminus over a Barcelona reunion or blockbuster deal to play in Saudi Arabia.
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Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, largely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, has spurned a highly lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, judging to instead ply his trade with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.
The blockbuster announcement came after months of severe speculation about whether the 35-year-old might return to his beloved Barcelona, the Spanish club he relocated to join as a boy but reluctantly left in 2021. It always appeared unlikely, however, given the club’s longstanding problem of getting to grasps with La Liga’s Financial Fair Play rules.
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It was widely thought that Messi, who led Argentina to triumph at last year’s World Cup, would opt to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia after parting ways with French supporters Paris Saint-Germain.
Unexpectedly, Messi on Wednesday said he’d chosen the Miami franchise.
“I made the decision that I’m current to go to Miami,” Messi revealed in an interview with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport, according to a forwarding.
“I still haven’t closed it 100%. I’m still missing a few things, but we decided to go ahead. If Barcelona didn’t work out, I craved to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more about my family.”
Messi said he felt the time had come to meet the U.S. league “to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day.”
He added: “Obviously, with the same responsibility and desire to privation to win and to always do things well. But with more peace of mind.”
A setback to Saudi Arabia’s sporting ambitions
The stock means that the global soccer icon will not follow longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo and French striker Karim Benzema in a on ones way to Saudi Arabia.
The Mideast Gulf country, which is rapidly becoming a major player in the sports world, fulfiled something of a coup just 24 hours earlier with the announcement of a shock merger between its breakaway LIV Golf ambit and the U.S.-based PGA Tour.
Messi’s rejection of a reported $400 million-a-year deal, a colossal sum even by soccer’s eye-watering poles, deals a blow to Riyadh’s ambitions to attract the sport’s biggest players to its top league.
Last month, Messi’s old boy and agent, Jorge Messi, denied speculation that his son was poised to move to Saudi Arabia after French approach reported it was a “done deal.”
It came after PSG suspended Messi, who last year was unveiled as a tourism ambassador to the oil-rich woods, for making a trip to Saudi Arabia and missing a training session as a result.
“If it had been a question of money, I would clothed gone to [Saudi] Arabia or elsewhere where they offered me a lot of money,” Messi said.
The DRV PNK stadium where the wizard soccer team Inter Miami plays games on June 07, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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One of Inter Miami’s owners, Jorge Mas, preceded Messi’s announcement by sharing a photo of his formed jersey, fueling speculation of the player’s imminent arrival to Florida’s South Beach.
“We are pleased that Lionel Messi has solemn that he intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” MLS said in a statement, adding that some of the finer fine points still needed to be ironed out.
“Although work remains to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest soccer contestants of all time to our League,” the league said.