Messi

Lionel Messi announces decision to join Inter Miami

Messi had also been offered an eye-watering €400m-a-year deal to join Saudi Pro League team Al Hilal this summer – a figure far greater than the amounts being paid to Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, who joined Al Ittihad on Tuesday.

But it’s Miami and Major League Soccer where Messi will be plying his trade next, with a blockbuster announcement from the player himself in a joint interview with Mundo Deportivo and SPORT confirming he will head to Florida to continue his career.

“I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami,” Messi said. “I still haven’t closed it one hundred percent. I’m missing some things but we decided to continue the path.”

“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, much more after winning the World Cup, was what I needed. Finishing my career on this side and living the United States league in a different way, 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.”