Lionel Messi has announced that he will join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami over a move to Barcelona or to play in Saudi Arabia.
The 35-year-old Argentine forward has spent the last two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain. He played his last game for the club on Saturday. Before that, he spent most of his career at Barcelona, where he played for 13 years.
Messi said he didn’t want to have to wait for Barcelona to find a way to sign him because of their financial situation. They weren’t able to keep him before he moved to PSG, which made for a sad goodbye.
“I was afraid that it would happen again,” Messi told Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo.
“I’ve taken the decision that I am going to Miami, I don’t have (the deal) 100 percent sealed or maybe there’s something left to do, but we decided to continue our path there.
“(I decided) to leave Europe, it’s true that I had offers from another European team but I didn’t even think about it because in Europe, my idea was only to go to Barcelona.
“After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it’s time to go to MLS to live football in a different way and enjoy my day to day life more.
“Obviously with the same responsibility and desire to win, and to do things well, but with more calm.”
Messi has won the Ballon d’Or seven times, and he is likely to win it again if he leads Argentina to win the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022.
Messi’s decision was eagerly awaited by the football world after PSG announced this week that the playmaker, who is widely thought to be the best player in football history, was leaving.
Inter Miami was started in 2018 and is co-owned by former England player David Beckham. Last week, the team fired coach Phil Neville because they were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Interim coach Javier Morales is from Argentina.
Messi turned down the chance to go back to Barcelona and the chance to make a lot of money in Saudi Arabia. Instead, he joined the Major League Soccer (MLS). He has been on vacation in sunny Miami before.
Some reports say that Adidas, which makes sportswear, and Apple TV, which owns the domestic broadcasting rights for the league, maybe helping to pay for his deal.
Photo by EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
