Inter Miami Plan To Sign Lionel Messi’s Former Teammates This Summer, According to Reports

From Saudi Arabia side Al Hilal to Barcelona- multiple big names were in the fray to sign Lionel Messi after the Argentine’s disinterest in renewing his contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) became quite evident. The World Cup-winning skipper finally decided to ply his trade for Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami next season. It is now learnt that Messi could very well reunite with some of his former Barcelona teammates at Inter Miami. A report published by SPORTBIBLE claims that according to TyC Sports reporter Gaston Edul, Inter Miami will ‘start negotiations’ with players like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba over potential moves this summer. The MLS outfit are also reportedly linked with two of Messi’s Argentina teammates- Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes.

Speculations were rife about Lionel Messi making an emotional return to Barcelona in the summer transfer window. Messi’s father Jorge had recently confirmed that his son wishes to return to the Catalan giants this summer. Jorge even reportedly met Barcelona President Joan Laporta at his house to talk about Messi’s possible return to his childhood club. But Messi’s chances of playing for Barcelona are now all over. While communicating his move to Miami, Messi did mention that Barcelona were his only possible destination in Europe.

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“I’ve taken the decision that I am going to Miami, I don’t have (the deal) 100 per cent sealed or maybe there’s something left to do, but we decided to continue our path there. (I decided) to leave Europe, it’s true that I had offers from another European team but I didn’t even think about it because in Europe, my idea was only to go to Barcelona. After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it’s time to go to MLS to live football in a different way and enjoy my day-to-day life more,” Lionel Messi was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

With Lionel Messi’s arrival in MLS, Inter Miami can now certainly become one of the strongest contenders to win the domestic league next season. They finished their Eastern Conference campaign in the 15th spot last season.

With Lionel Messi off from Paris Saint Germain Football Club (PSG), many clubs from all over the world came forward with a proposal to the Argentine footballer. The competition to get him was won with Messi opting for the American professional soccer club, Inter Miami.

Very little is known about the details of their contract and the salary Messi could be making, but the base salary of the highest-paid footballer in Major League Soccer (MLS), Xherdan Shariqi of Chicago Fire is 7.35 million dollars and one can anticipate that Messi can be paid more.

Inter Miami, upon getting the star, spoke further about its plans to form the team around Messi himself by getting his old teammates from PSG and Futbol Club Barcelona (FCB) to their club. Inter Miami is set to start negotiations with his former Barcelona teammates, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba to come over. The David Beckham co-owned club is also getting prepared to talk to Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes, Messi’s former teammates from PSG.

In the fight to get Messi into the club, Al-Hilal Saudi Club based out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia had offered a very lucrative contract to Messi and Messi’s old club FCB had also offered a contract to the star which he refused.

Al-Hilal had originally offered a sum of 400 million euro to the forward which he refused. Catalan businessman Jaume Roures, who is very close to Barcelona president Joan Laporta, spoke to a news outlet and said that the Saudis have raised their ante to 500 million euro and want the Argentine just for a year. Upon hearing the news that Messi has decided to sign with Inter Miami still, the Saudi-origin club decided to hike the price further up and tripled it with a final minute offer of 1.5 billion Euro per season.

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FCB’s president, Joan Laporta, and Messi’s father cum coach were seen in a meeting on June 5th which led many to believe that the forward will once again be seen in the Blaugrana. Messi, however, had a different thought about the whole situation and did not join the club. Barcelona later released a statement in which it mentioned that the club’s president understood and respected his decision to want to compete in a league with fewer demands, further from the spotlight and the pressure that the player has been subjected to in recent years.

With Messi’s arrival at MLS, Inter Miami can now be said to have the power to change the scene of football in America. With David Beckham’s club able to get the contract, Messi’s coming is also being cited as Beckham’s second coming and perhaps, even bigger. To put the cherry on top, Messi might finally have his dream number on his jersey. His old number, 30, is already being worn by Benjamin Cremaschi and the legendary number 10 jersey, has no takers.

Inter Miami footballers anyhow think that the club is not ready for such a big star to set foot in South Florida. Goalkeeper of Inter Miami, Nick Marsman, stated that they have a temporary stadium and people can just walk in anytime. DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, which has been in use by the club is set to be changed and the new stadium at Miami Freedom Park, worth 1 billion dollars, is under construction.