On Wednesday afternoon, multiple media outlets announced that Lionel Messi had finally chosen Inter Miami as his next playing destination after leaving Paris Saint Germain at the end of his contract.
Most reports seemed to stem from a tweet from Guillem Balague, a senior journalist who wrote what is considered to be the only official Messi biography.
Messi has decided. His destination: Inter Miami
Leo Messi se va al Inter Miami
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) June 7, 2023
The news comes after weeks of speculation that the Argentinian World Cup winner would be following his nemesis, Cristiano Ronaldo, out to the Saudi Pro League and would play for Al Hilal, a club that is a direct rival to Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.
Karim Benzema has recently been announced as joining Al Ittihad and it’s believed that N’Golo Kante will soon join the exodus.
They’ll surely not be the last to make the move to the Emirates, though it does seem that the crown jewel, Messi, won’t be gracing Saudi shores.
However, this precise scenario could’ve been seen as far back as November 2022, when Messi was taking on all-comers for Argentina in the Qatar World Cup.
According to Matt Lawton, writing for The Times (subscription required) in Doha, Messi was already close to agreeing the Inter Miami deal at that point.
Lawton correctly noted that the US football franchise expected Messi to move from PSG at the end of the European season, which was confirmed ahead of the player’s last domestic game for the Ligue Un giants.
MLS is going all out to lure Lionel Messi to the league ?
Included in a potential deal:
?? Profit sharing with Apple and Adidas
?? Potential option to purchase a percentage of an MLS team at end of tenure@PaulTenorio, @FelipeCar and @MLSist have more:https://t.co/IpunCoOLCx— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 7, 2023
As for how the deal has been constructed, The Athletic noted that both Apple and Adidas are involved in getting it over the line in what would be an incredible coup for MLS.