To date, football fans are still in awe why former Barcelona captain and legendary player Lionel Messi decided to play for Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer over Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia considering the humungous wages and bonuses he will earn for a period of at least two years.
A good number of top players in Europe including Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, Roberto Firmino, Karim Benzema, Jordan Henderson among others have secured a move to different clubs in Saudi Arabia while earning huge sum of amount in terms of wages.
Neymar is the latest top layer from Europe who hasn’t secured a move to Al Hilal. Neymar’s two-year contact is worth £275m and he is set to earn £2.65m per week. However, none of these enticed Lionel Messi. Instead, the seven-times Ballon D’or winner signed for Inter Miami
Instead, Messi decided to join Inter League. Inter Miami is a club owned by Manchester United United and Real Madrid midfielder, David Beckham.
If Lionel Messi had taken the deal from Saudi Arabia, his net worth would increase significantly but the former Barcelona star had other ideas.
Lionel Messi interview: Why I joined Inter Miami
After a two-year spell in the French capital with PSG, Messi called it quit and signed for Inter Miami despite having a more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia. Joining Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia seems reasonable not just because of the offer which was reported to be €1.5 billion for three years with approximately €500 million per year for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner. However, Messi revealed why he signed for Inter Miami and his return to Barcelona
In a detailed interview with the Spanish media sources Sport Mundo Deportivo, he explained his choice.
How do you feel about leaving Paris?
With mixed feelings. The truth is that the first year was very difficult, as I have already said on occasion, for different reasons. The second year, the first six months I felt very, very good, very comfortable in the club, in the city, with my family. In the middle was the World Cup and I think the World Cup marked all the teams a bit in general, it marked the season a bit, with such an important competition in the middle for the first time. I think it conditioned the season a lot. I expected it to end differently, but hey, it was two years, which, in general, were difficult for me, but they are behind me.
Have you missed Barcelona?
Yes, obviously I did, I missed them. And even more so at the beginning, when the first year here was so difficult for me. After my departure, after how everything went, obviously, I followed them, I watched the games and I always, always held on to the memories and to be able to be there.
Have you already made a decision on returning to Barca?
I really wanted and was very excited about being able to return, but on the other hand, after experiencing what I experienced and the way I left, I didn’t want to be in the same situation again: waiting to see what would happen and leaving my future in someone else’s hands.
I wanted to make my own decision, thinking about myself, about my family. Although I heard that it was being said 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 they 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.
The last time I had to leave, La Liga had also accepted my registration, but in the end, it couldn’t be done. Well, I was afraid that the same thing would happen again, and I would have to rush around like before when I had to come here to Paris and stay in a hotel for a long time with my family, with my children going to school and still being in the hotel… I wanted to make my own decision, and that’s why my return to Barça didn’t happen. Although I would have loved to, it couldn’t be done.
Where next? To Saudi Arabia? To Miami? To another place?
I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami. I still haven’t closed it one hundred percent. I’m missing some things but we decided to continue the path.
The truth is that I had offers from another European team, but I didn’t even evaluate 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 was time to go to the American league, to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day. Obviously with the same responsibility and the same desire to want to win and to always do things well. But with more peace of mind.
Lionel Messi interview after debut goal
Lionel Messi scored on his debut as he came on as a second half substitute to score the winner via sublime last second free-kick. Inter Miami won the game 2-1 against Cruz Azul at the DRV PNK Stadium.
“What I saw was the goal. I saw the goal, I knew I had to score. It was the last play of the game, and I wanted to score so we didn’t go to penalties,” said Messi.
“It was very important for us to get this win because in the tournament it’s going to give us confidence moving forward.”
