According to Tasnim news agency, speculations about Lionel Messi’s future have finally ended and his next destination has been determined. The Argentinian star announced in an interview in France with two Catalan publications, Sport and Mondeportivo, that his next destination will be Inter Miami, a team owned by David Beckham. In this way, not only the scenario of his return to Barcelona was ruled out, but the captain of the Argentine national team will not go to Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia, the team that was said to be willing to pay him 300 million euros annually.
Sport and Mondeportivo quoted Messi as saying: I will not return to Barcelona. I will go to Inter Miami. I heard that Barcelona has to reduce the salaries of other players or sell some of them to bring me back. I don’t want that to happen and that’s why I won’t return to Barcelona.
Admitting that he really wanted to return to Camp Nou and had plans to do so, Messi added: “I had a lot of motivation and desire to return to Barcelona, but on the other hand, considering the events that forced me to leave this team and the way I left Ann, I didn’t want to go back in a situation where I would experience the same situation again. I waited to see what would happen and make a decision about my future based on that. I wanted to decide for my future and do what is best for me and my family. Even if I heard that LaLiga agreed with my return to Barcelona and the way was paved for my return, there were still many things that needed to be done. The most important of them was that I didn’t want my return to be a victim of the team’s players, and to be honest, I didn’t want to take responsibility for the occurrence of events in which I have no intention. I was accused of many things during my time at Barcelona that didn’t even happen and I was a bit tired of these stories. That’s why I didn’t want to experience all these events again.
Messi also said about his next destination: I will go to Inter Miami. I have made my decision and I want to go to Miami. Of course, everything is still not 100% finalized and there are a few minor things left, but my family and I decided to go to America. The fact is that I had offers from several other European teams, but I didn’t even think about them because I decided that if I was going to stay in Europe, I would just go back to Barcelona. After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, I decided to go to the American League to experience football in a different way and enjoy my everyday life more. Of course, I will have the same responsibilities there as I have until now and I will be as motivated to win as I was before, but with more peace of mind.