The Argentinian star footballer Lionel Messi (35) has announced that he will play next season for Inter Miami in the American Major League Soccer. Messi reports this to Spanish media on Wednesday. The club Inter Miami posted a message about their new acquisition on social media. Nothing has been announced about the details yet, the deal would not be completed yet. It is therefore not yet known what amount he will earn in the US.
The choice seems to surprise many. There had been speculation for months that Messi would eventually opt to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia for a huge fee, following the lead of fellow great Cristiano Ronaldo. Or he would go back to Barcelona, where he has played most of his career. But on Wednesday it became clear that Messi did not opt for the big money. The attacker, voted the best footballer in the world seven times, said he would “continue his way in Miami”.
Messi chooses a club that is struggling. In the Eastern Conference, one of the two largest American leagues, Inter Miami is in last place. Few great footballers have played for the club, which has been led by British football icon David Beckham since its foundation.
Dissatisfaction at PSG
Messi’s stay at Paris Saint-Germain has been limited to just two seasons in which the club failed to achieve its ultimate goal of winning the Champions League. Last season, the club stranded in the eighth final against the later winner Real Madrid; this season Bayern Munich was too strong at the same stage of the club tournament. Messi’s PSG won the French national title last season, something the Parisians seem to succeed this year too.
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The lack of success of his hard-fought arrival to France has led to great frustration among PSG supporters. They saw how Messi shone in the shirt of Argentina during the World Cup in Qatar — he made Argentina world champion — but made the difference less often than hoped in that of the French oil club. The fact that Messi is said to be disappointing at PSG shows the dizzying performance of the Argentinian in his career: the iconic dribbler scored ‘only’ sixteen goals in 32 games in the French League 1 this season.
The quiet dissatisfaction gave way to outspoken anger when Messi traveled to Saudi Arabia last month without PSG’s permission to promote the Gulf state. He skipped a training session, the day after a painful defeat against the French mid-engine Lorient, and was therefore suspended by his club for two weeks. Hundreds of PSG fans sang songs with insults such as “son of a whore” for the footballer — who was welcomed as the Messiah in France just two years ago.
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