Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
Lionel Messi announced his decision to join Inter Miami while talking to Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo. The news came as a shock to many as reports suggested that Messi might be heading to Saudi club Al Hilal in a huge deal.
Reports in the last few months suggested that Messi is set to join the Saudi club Al Hilal in a deal worth $1.2 billion for two seasons. Even till Tuesday, there were reports that Messi will sign the deal in a few days, but that didn’t happen. Messi has been the travel ambassador for Saudi Arabia since 2020, which gets him $33 million a year.
Reports also came in that Messi’s father, Jorge Messi had met FC Barcelona’s president Joan earlier this week after La Liga approved the club’s viability plan. The news made fans happy as they wished to see the GOAT wearing Blaugrana once again.
Lionel Messi told Mundo Deportivo, “Although I heard that La Liga had accepted everything and that everything was fine for me to come back, there were still many other things that needed to happen. I heard that Barcelona had to sell players or reduce players’ salaries, and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that or take responsibility for something related to all of that. I have already been accused of many things that were not true in my career at Barcelona, and I was already a bit tired; I didn’t want to go through all of that. Although I would have loved to, it couldn’t be done.”
For not choosing Saudi he said, “If it had been a question of money, I would have gone to [Saudi] Arabia or another place, the truth is that my decision was for another reason and not because of money.”
The MLS club announced the big move on Wednesday, although both Messi and the club have stated that the deal is not complete yet. The GOAT is expected to join his next club in July.
Messi will reportedly earn around $50 million a year at Inter Miami in a deal which is said to include more lucrative commercial contracts with the leagues sponsors Apple and Adidas. Reports also suggest that Messi might get a part of the revenues from Apple TV+
The other lucrative part of this shocking transfer deal is that Messi might get a part of the increased profits of Adidas, MLS’ kit sponsor. Messi already has a lifetime sponsorship deal with the sports giant, which is worth $1 billion.
Check out the stats of Messi, one of the greatest players of all time in football: FC Barcelona – 672 goals and 269 assists in 778 games Argentina – 102 goals and 54 assists in 174 games PSG – 32 goals and 34 assists in 75 games Overall – 806 goals and 357 assists in 1,027 games
Messi recently won the FIFA World Cup 2022 while also winning his second Golden Ball after the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Overall Messi has: – 12 league titles – 10 La Liga trophies and 2 Ligue 1 trophies – 4 Champions league titles – 2021 Copa America Title – 3 Club World Cups – 3 UEFA Super Cups
Messi is the seven time Ballon d’Or winner, with the eighth one on the way for winning the FIFA World Cup last year. His other major honours include 8 Pichichi Awards and being a six-time Champions League top-scorer. He also holds the record of Barcelona’s all-time top scorer, Argentina’s all-time top scorer and La Liga’s all-time top scorer. Messi also holds the record for scoring most goals in a single calendar year with 91 goals in 2012.