In a landmark moment for MLS and North American soccer, Lionel Messi has confirmed he will move to Inter Miami.
The Argentine revealed his decision in an interview with Mundo Deportivo and Sport, saying that he had decided to join the MLS club, though the deal isn’t fully completed.
“I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami. I still haven’t completed it 100 percent. I’m missing some things but we decided to continue down this path,” the Argentina legend said.
The 35-year-old left PSG as a free agent after a two-year stay in Paris. Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal made Messi a lucrative offer, but he turned it down along with offers from other European teams.
Messi admitted he wanted to return to Barcelona but did not want to repeat his experience of two years ago, when he was forced to leave the club due to its financial problems.
“The truth is I obviously really wanted to [return to Barcelona], I was very excited to be able to return,” he said. “But on the other hand, after having experienced what I experienced and the exit I had, I did not want to be in the same situation again.”
After a return to Camp Nou never materialized, Messi said he looked toward the United States so he could live with more “peace of mind.”
“I had offers from other European teams but I didn’t even evaluate them because my idea was to go to Barcelona,” Messi said. “And if the Barcelona thing didn’t work out, then leaving European football after winning the World Cup was what I needed to do.
“Experiencing the United States league in a different way and enjoying the day to day, but with the same responsibility of wanting to win and always doing things well, but with more peace of mind.”
In a video posted to its social media channels, Inter Miami confirmed the move by taking the opportunity to dunk on everyone who said that the all-time great would never move to MLS.
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) June 7, 2023
Messi denies pact with Busquets and Alba
There has been speculation that Messi was aiming to bring his longtime teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba with him to his next destination, which in recent months looked likely to be Saudi Arabia.
But Messi has denied those rumors after both Busquets and Alba left Barcelona as free agents following the season.
“That is one of the other things that was said, that I was going with Busi and Jordi to Arabia, that we already had everything arranged,” Messi said.
“No, each person looks out for own his future. Obviously, I was aware of them and what they were going to do, but we never agreed to go anywhere together. I made my decision for myself and I don’t know what they are going to do.”
MLS pulls out all the stops to land Messi
To land one of the all-time greats and compete with the riches on offer in Saudi Arabia, MLS had to throw the kitchen sink at Messi. And that is exactly what they did.
The Athletic reported that the league and Apple offered Messi a cut of the money generated by new subscribers to the league’s streaming package on Apple TV+.
Additionally, league partner Adidas offered Messi a profit-sharing agreement stemming from the expected increase in MLS merchandise sales.
Messi’s deal with Inter Miami also reportedly includes an option to purchase a percentage of an MLS team at a discounted rate — a similar clause to the one included in David Beckham’s deal with the LA Galaxy in 2007.
Beckham eventually used that clause to become a co-owner of Inter Miami.
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