Los Angeles Reuters: After leaving French champions Paris St. Germain, Lionel Messi will reject a lucrative deal in Saudi Arabia and sign with Major League Soccer team Inter Miami as a free agent, according to the BBC on Wednesday.
Messi, who just played his farewell match for PSG, was also said to be interested in a return to Barcelona, but the Spanish club’s options were limited by LaLiga’s financial fair play regulations.
The 35-year-old Argentine will play outside of Europe for the first time since joining Barca’s academy at the age of 13 and become the Spanish club’s all-time leading scorer with 672 goals if the agreement with Miami is approved.
The MLS said that the league authorises all player contracts but was unable to corroborate the BBC allegation.
Requests for comment from Inter Miami did not immediately get a response.
A person with knowledge of the talks told Reuters last week that Messi wants to join a team where he could someday hold a part. Additionally, he wanted to make the most of his current agreement with Adidas and MLS’s partnership with Apple.
MLS receives a set price from Apple of around $250 million year up until it hits a certain number of subscribers, at which time it will get a portion of the money generated by those subscriptions.
As the most well-known football player in the world, Messi’s transfer to the MLS is anticipated to draw people to the Apple TV streaming platform.
Messi won the Ligue 1 championship in his two seasons at PSG as well as the French Super Cup in 2022. Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup victory in Qatar in December and holds a record seven Ballon d’Or honours, also won the French Super Cup in 2022.
After receiving a formal offer, the forward was also mentioned in connection with a transfer to Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia.
In an effort to attract the game’s top players to its league, the Gulf nation was successful in persuading Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo to join Al Nassr shortly after the World Cup. Karim Benzema, a French striker, has signed with Al Ittihad.
Former England captain David Beckham, one of the first well-known European players to relocate to the United States and compete in the Major League Soccer (MLS), co-owns Inter Miami. Beckham won the MLS Cup twice with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
PSG LEAVE
Messi, who was once the pride of European football, has practically been released for free by two big clubs in the last two years.
Messi has a number of records for Barcelona, the team he never wanted to leave and the city he has called home since he was a youngster.
But since Barcelona failed to make it financially possible for him to stay, Messi had no option but to leave the club in 2021.
However, he left PSG of his own free will because he believed the French club had a long-term plan, and the dissatisfaction among fans further accelerated his departure.
The lows he encountered in Paris swiftly outweighed the highs he enjoyed after winning Argentina’s first World Cup in 36 years.
Before he could enjoy his victory at the World Cup, he was thrust into the centre of controversy when, for the first time in his great career, PSG’s supporters turned against him due to the team’s dismal performance.
In the last ten years, PSG supporters have become used to their team winning domestic championships. PSG is owned and supported by Qatar Sports Investments. Last month, they won their tenth championship in 11 seasons.
But after yet another mild defeat in the round of 16, the illusive Champions League remains unattainable.
