Lionel Messi, football’s most coveted free agent, chooses Miami

If completed, the signing of Messi would be the biggest coup for MLS since Beckham was lured in 2007. That deal changed the perception of the league’s quality and aspirations around the world; Capturing Messi would in any case bring even more attention to the competition in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup.

Messi admitted in his interview that Miami – perhaps – had not been his first choice of destination as his contract with his most recent team, Paris St.-Germain, was due to expire.

Speaking to two media outlets who devote much of their coverage to the club where he became the best player of his generation, Barcelona, ​​he made it clear that in an ideal world he would have returned to Catalonia. He was “clearly very keen to return”, he said, and had discussed the idea with both Xavi Hernández, the club’s manager, and Joan Laporta, its chairman.

But in the end, Barcelona’s financial turmoil forced him to. “I’ve heard they had to sell players or cut salaries and the truth is I didn’t want to go through that,” he said, suggesting he didn’t want to be held responsible for forcing Barcelona to change its squad just to to meet him. .

“I wanted to make my own decision thinking about myself and my family,” he said, fully describing a move from Europe as a chance to “find something different and find a little bit of peace of mind”. After 20 years as one of – if not the – best players in the world, and seven months after leading Argentina to the World Cup, the only trophy that had previously eluded him, he said he wanted to “get a little bit out of focus” . , think of my family.”