WELCOME TO MIAMI!
Messi rejects Saudi cash to join Beckham Stateside
ADaY after Saudi arabia bought golf, football’s biggest star resisted their riches and sealed a move to join David Beckham at Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi, who will be 36 at the end of this month, and his family had set their hearts on a return to Barcelona — but this proved impossible because of the club’s financial situation.
Instead of following Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante to the Middle East, Messi rejected al-Hilal’s €600million offer and accepted a deal worth a fraction of the value from Miami. Confirming the
move, Messi said last night: ‘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 work out, then leaving European football and much more after winning the World Cup was what I needed. I am closing my career on this side in MLS. I will be enjoying day-to-day much more but with the same responsibility of wanting to win and always doing things well — but with more peace of mind.’
Some Barcelona supporters were last night holding out for the possibility that their greatest player could be loaned back to them, as the MLS season will end in october and not start again until february. But that seems a remote hope.
The Spanish champions were convinced they could afford Messi’s € 25m (£ 21.5m) gross salary, but because they are over their La Liga-imposed maximum squad spend the club are subject to the league’s ‘40 per cent rule’ — meaning they would have to shed €100m from their wage bill for every €40m added to it.
The club’s president Joan Laporta assured Messi’s father, Jorge, that the club could manage this but that it might take until the end of the window on September 1, and Messi was not willing to wait.
Much of Barcelona’s highprofile pursuit of Messi was steeped in theatre, right down to a face-to-face meeting with Jorge on Monday — Laporta opened the door to him in his slippers at his apartment block with local media there to capture the moment.
The landing of Messi represents a massive coup for the MLS. apple and adidas are believed to be involved in putting together a financial package for Messi. apple are the rights-holders to show MLS games, and adidas are the kit suppliers for all the teams in the competition. Messi’s move is also huge for Inter Miami, co-owned by Beckham, who have lost 11 of their first 16 games and are bottom of the table.
In contrast, Messi’s decision represents a blow to Saudi arabia’s hopes of sporting domination — he was to be the jewel in their crown this summer. Benzema and Kante have agreed moves to al- Hilal’s rivals al-Ittihad but others on their wish list, including Luka Modric, have so far resisted the call.