Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero admitted Lionel Messi 'cracked up' when he sent him Inter Miami's position in the MLS Eastern Conference.
The Herons currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference following their first 15 matches of the season. This form led to former Manchester United defender Phil Neville being sacked as head coach by David Beckham.
Beckham, who co-owns Miami, described the decision as tough but one which the board felt needed to be made. A week on, Inter have now completed the landmark signing of Messi.
In a press conference on Wednesday, the Argentine legend opened up on his decision to not return to Barcelona. He explained: "If the Barcelona thing didn’t work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more in my family.
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"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.
"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."
It appears the decision to choose Inter even shocked Messi's close friends, including Aguero.
The two have a close bond and the retired striker told ESPN what Messi's reaction was when he sent him the Eastern Conference standings. "I spoke to Messi yesterday, I sent him a message with a screenshot of the Eastern Conference standings and I said ‘your team is behind! You have to move up to 8th/9th'," he said.
"Messi cracked up. He said ‘we have to make the play-offs'."
Miami are currently six points behind 9th placed Charlotte who occupy the last Final Series play-off spot.
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