Following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, Lionel Messi revealed his choice to join Inter Miami on a free transfer, choosing a new challenge over a reunion with his previous team Barcelona.
For a good portion of 2023, Barca was optimistic in re-signing the 35-year-old from Paris Saint-Germain. Messi's father, Jorge, even expressed a desire for his son to rejoin the team where he set both club records with 672 goals and 778 appearances.
In addition, Messi had received an eye-popping offer of €400 million per year to join Saudi Pro League team Al Hilal this summer. This price was significantly higher than that paid to Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Al Ittihad on Tuesday.
However, Messi will be playing in Miami and Major League Soccer going forward after making the stunning news in a joint interview with Mundo Deportivo and SPORT that he will be moving to Florida to continue his career.
Messi stated, "I decided that I am going to travel to Miami. "I still haven't completely closed it. Even though I'm missing some things, we chose to go on.
I received offers from other European teams, but I didn't even consider them because I had Barcelona in mind. After winning the World Cup, I needed to leave European football if the Barcelona thing didn't work out. I plan to finish my career on this side and experience the American league in a different way, enjoying each day considerably more while still having the same obligation to strive for success and consistently perform well.
Messi's interview in Spain was shortly followed by a video from Inter Miami, mocking recent claims that have been critical of Major League Soccer and tying him to Barcelona or a move to Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, 90min reported that MLS and Inter Miami had seen an opportunity to steal Lionel Messi from Barcelona. This was partly because of the financial package, which included payments from the league's two biggest sponsors, Apple and adidas.
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