Fancy Barça return
The future of world champion Lionel Messi lies neither with his ex-club FC Barcelona nor in Saudi Arabia. Instead, the 35-year-old Argentinian is drawn to Major League Soccer and Inter Miami with co-owner David Beckham after the end of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain. Messi confirmed this in an interview published on Wednesday evening by the Catalan newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport. A little later, the US club followed suit with the official confirmation.
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“I made the decision to go to Miami. It’s not all signed yet. There are still a few things missing, but we have decided to continue the journey,” said Messi (quoted via “Barca World”). On returning to Barça, he said: “I felt like it and I was very excited to be able to come back. But on the other hand, after what I went through and the exit I had, I didn’t want to be in the same situation again: waiting to see what happens and leaving my future in someone else’s hands, so to speak.”
Messi added: “Although I heard that LaLiga accepted everything and everything was fine for my return, there were many other things that needed to be done. I heard that players had to be sold or that players’ salaries had to be reduced. The truth is, I didn’t want to be part of it, nor did I want to be responsible for having anything to do with any of this. I’ve been accused of many things that weren’t true during my time at Barça. I was a bit tired, I didn’t want to go through all that.”
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) June 7, 2023
previously had “The Athletic‘ reports that Messi’s transfer to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia is ‘out of the question’. Rather, he either wanted to switch back to his heart club FC Barcelona or to the USA. There was talk of “Goal” and “Spox” that Messi had asked to postpone his move to Al-Hilal until 2024. The club had recently promised an agreement this week. Messi’s commitment should be echoed worldwide and at the same time present Saudi Arabia. The whole country is looking forward to the moment, it said.
According to media reports, Al-Hilal offered Messi an annual salary of well over 300 million euros. Payments of up to EUR 500 million per year were also traded. Both sums would be higher than Cristiano Ronaldo’s rumored salary at Al-Nassr FC, which is said to be around €200m a year.
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Miami’s interest was not new, but has been a public topic several times in recent years. Most recently, in November last year, there were reports of an agreement between the club and the players, which Messi’s advisor denied shortly afterwards. The league has now become very creative with a view to a possible Messi transfer, “everything is on the table,” said an MLS representative “The Athletic”.
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The league’s offer to Messi includes payments from the two biggest sponsors. The MLS and “Apple” want to offer Messi a share of the streaming revenue. The tech giant and the league signed a ten-year, $2.5 billion deal earlier this year. On Tuesday, “Apple” also announced that it would broadcast a four-part documentary series about Messi’s five appearances at the World Cup. “Adidas”, one of the largest MLS sponsors, is said to be preparing its own agreement. They offer Messi a profit-sharing deal with the sportswear giant. Messi already has a lifetime contract with the German company.
Video fuels speculation about Messi’s return to FC Barcelona
Meanwhile, on Monday, a short video in Spain fueled speculation about Messi’s return to Barcelona. Sports journalist Toni Juanmartí posted footage on Twitter showing Messi’s father and manager Jorge entering the home of Barça club boss Joan Laporta on Monday.
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After two seasons at PSG, Messi is leaving the French champions in the summer. The Argentine’s contract expires on June 30 and Messi can then move on a free transfer. Barcelona coach Xavi had recently emphasized several times that he wanted to work with his ex-teammate again.
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Messi knows that he will find “open doors” with the Spanish champions, Xavi said, emphasizing that he had campaigned internally for the 35-year-old to sign: “I have no doubt that he would help us a lot at a high level .” However, it was questionable whether the financially troubled Catalans could have afforded a comeback for the club legend.
This article appeared on Transfermarkt on June 7, 2023 at 11:54 a.m. and was updated according to Lionel Messi’s statements.
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