Lionel Messi has announced he will be joining David Beckham's Inter Miami this summer.
The seven-time Balon d'Or winner has brought a close to his glittering career in European football after leaving Paris Saint-Germain upon the expiration of his contract. Messi spent two years in Paris after his emotional exit from a cash-strapped Barcelona.
Messi's future was up in the air this week and he was heavily linked with a move to join long-term rival Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia but he has instead decided to sign for MLS side Miami, co-owned by Manchester United legend David Beckham. "I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami,” Messi said in a joint interview with Spanish publications Mundo Deportivo and Sport. “I still haven’t closed it one hundred per cent. I’m missing some things, but we decided to continue on the path.”
Miami hold great ambitions but are currently struggling in the MLS Eastern Conference and sit down in 15th. Beckham's former teammate for club and country, Phil Neville, was sacked as manager earlier this week.
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Messi was also linked with a remarkable return to Barcelona and he has admitted he wanted to play at the Camp Nou again but decided against it over fears of a second spell ending in a similar fashion to the first. The World Cup winner was forced to leave Catalonia, his home for more than two decades, in 2021 as the club could not afford to sign him to a new contract amid financial struggles.
“If the Barcelona thing didn’t work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more in my family,” the 35-year-old said. “I really wanted, I was very excited to be able to return (to Barcelona), but after having experienced what I experienced and the exit I had, I did not want to be in the same situation again – waiting to see what was going to happen.
“I heard that they had to sell players or lower players’ salaries and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that, nor take charge of obtaining something that had to do with all that. I also wanted to look for something else and a bit of peace of mind,” Messi said.
“I had offers from other European teams, but I didn’t even evaluate them because my idea was to go to Barcelona. If the Barcelona thing didn’t come out, analysing it, then (I was) leaving European football and much more (doing so) after winning the World Cup, which was what I needed to close my career on this side.
“Going to live in the United States in a different way and enjoying day-to-day much more, but with the same responsibility of wanting to win and always doing things well, but (now) with more peace of mind.”
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