TEMPO.CO, Los Angeles - Lionel Messi on Wednesday, June 7, announced that he intends to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami as a free agent after parting ways with French champions Paris St Germain and snubbing a lucrative contract offer in Saudi Arabia.
Messi, who played his final game for PSG over the weekend, was also linked with a return to Barcelona, but the Spanish club have had their hands tied due to LaLiga's financial fair play rules.
"I made the decision that I'm going to go to Miami," Messi said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo and Sport newspapers.
"I still haven't closed it 100%. I'm still missing a few things, but we decided to go ahead. If Barcelona didn't work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more about my family."
Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in December and has earned a record seven Ballon d'Or awards, won the Ligue 1 title in his two seasons with PSG as well as the French Super Cup in 2022.
"After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it was time to go to the U.S. league to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day," Messi said.
"Obviously with the same responsibility and desire to want to win and to always do things well. But with more peace of mind."
The move is also a big win for MLS, which welcomed Messi while adding that work remained to finalize the details of the formal agreement.
"The (goat) is coming," MLS tweeted, with a goat animal emoji standing in for the phrase "greatest of all time".
"Millions of MLS fans all over the world welcome you, Leo."
The forward was also linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal after he received a formal offer.
The Gulf country has been looking to bring the game's biggest players to its league and was successful in convincing Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo to join Al Nassr soon after the World Cup. French striker Karim Benzema joined Al Ittihad this week.
"If it had been a question of money, I would have gone to Arabia or elsewhere where they offered me a lot of money," Messi said.
Inter Miami are co-owned by former England captain David Beckham, who was one of the first major European stars to move to the United States to play in the MLS, winning the MLS Cup twice with Los Angeles Galaxy.
Messi will have his work cut out in Miami, however, with the club at rock bottom of the Eastern Conference standings - six points from ninth place, the final spot which would give them a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.
REUTERS
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