“My dream came true 10 years ago.”
David Beckham, owner of Inter Miami, was thrilled. The Inter Miami club announced on its Internet website on the 16th (Korean time) that it had signed a contract with Messi, the World Cup champion who won the Ballon d’Or seven times, until 2025. Messi, whose contract with Paris Saint-Germain has expired, has revealed his move to Inter Miami early on. He said in an interview with Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo on the 8th of last month, “I have decided to leave Europe” and “I have decided to go to Inter Miami.” With this, Messi’s saga ended with neither a return to Barcelona nor a trip to Saudi Arabia, but the third option, a trip to the United States. “I am delighted to be continuing the next phase of my career in the United States and Inter Miami,” Messi said on the club’s website. “This is a fantastic opportunity and together we will build this beautiful project. I want to help the team achieve its goals. “, he said.
The salary was also disclosed in advance. Spanish media El Pais reported on the 3rd in an interview with Jorge Mars, co-owner of Inter Miami, that “Messi earns between $50 million and $60 million a year.” This is between 65.6 billion won and 78.4 billion won in Korean money, and when averaged, it reaches about 72 billion won. That’s an average of about 200 million won a day. This is an increase from the 33.6 million pounds, or about 54 billion won, received from Paris Saint-Germain.메이저놀이터
But far from the best in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved to Saudi Arabia Al Nasr in January this year, is the highest paid player in the world. Ronaldo is receiving an annual salary of 200 million euros, or about 280 billion won. Messi will wear his number 10 shirt at Inter Miami. Only the same message as the symbol of number 10, Paris Saint-Germain wore number 30.
Beckham’s owner’s feelings are bound to be different. Beckham left Real Madrid in 2007 and came to the backwoods of America. Beckham, who played for the LA Galaxy until 2012, revealed his deep love for the American stage. He even founded the club. It was Inter Miami. In 2018, he launched Inter Miami as a co-owner. Beckham, who recruited superstars from Europe such as Gonzalo Higuain, dreamed of becoming Messi. He has long since expressed his desire to “bring Messi.” Messi was a symbolic existence that could take major league soccer to the next level. The dream has finally come true. “Ten years ago, when I started my journey to build a new team in Miami, I had a dream of bringing the best players in the world to this amazing city,” Beckham said. “Today, that dream has come true. “I am very proud to be joining the club. The next step in our adventure begins here. I can’t wait to see Messi play on the pitch.”
Miami managing owner Jorge Mars also said: “It is a great honor to welcome Messi and his family to their new home. In 2018, we promised to be an ambitious club, attracting the world’s elite players. Football in the USA “We will change the global perspective on football and make Miami a part of the conversation whenever football is mentioned. I sincerely thank our fans for their unwavering trust and patience. Together, we will continue to make dreams a reality.” .
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Messi’s future was a matter of primary concern. Messi parted ways with Paris Saint-Germain on the 4th of last month. Paris Saint-Germain announced through the club’s official channel that “Messi, who spent two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, has finished his journey at the end of this season.” “We express our gratitude to Messi, who won the Ballon d’Or seven times. I sincerely wish him more success for the rest of his playing career,’ he said. Messi also said through Ars, “It was fun to play with good players at Paris Saint-Germain. I am grateful to the club for giving me a great experience in Paris.” Messi, who performed an activity that did not match the value of his name at Paris Saint-Germain, such as lower-than-expected results and an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, played the final game with intensive booing from fans.
Soccer fans’ attention was focused on the future of Messi, who became a free body. The destination seemed to be in two places. Al-Hilal and Barcelona. At first, Al-Hilal was the dominant force. On May 9, AFP reported urgently that ‘Messi has signed a blockbuster contract with a Saudi club’, raising the possibility of Messi’s trip to Al-Hilal. However, Messi’s father immediately countered in a statement saying, “We have absolutely no contracts with any club for next year. There are always rumors and many people use Lionel’s name to get notoriety, but there is only one truth.” The rumors seemed to be dispelled.
However, the atmosphere changed again when Spain’s Sport reported that “Al-Hilal wants to announce the signing of Messi on the 6th.” “If Al-Hilal receives final approval from the player, he will make an announcement on the 6th,” he said. The conditions were literally at the level of making a sound. His annual salary is 400 million euros, or about 560 billion won. Twice that of Cristiano Ronaldo. Sport: ‘Al-Hilal offered Messi 400 million euros per season. They have presented all means, and only Messi’s OK sign is left,’ he said.
Recently, Saudi Arabia, which has been at the center of the issue with Ronaldo, is showing an active movement to host the World Cup. Saudi Arabia took over Newcastle United of the English Premier League with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and even embraced Ronaldo. He recently moved to Al Ittihad where he and Karim Benzema moved. N’Golo Kante and Sergio Ramos are also ahead of their trip to Saudi Arabia. Messi was the pinnacle of Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, dubbed ‘Mr. Everything’, wants to raise his international status around sports. Despite criticism of sportswashing, he had no intention of stopping investing.
However, on the 6th of last month, when Al-Hilal wanted an official announcement, a great turn of events unfolded. Reporter Tony Juanmarti, who runs a Barcelona-related podcast, revealed on social media the scene where Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi entered the house of Barcelona president Juan Laporta. Jorge, who had a 40-minute conversation with President Laporta, even opened his mouth. He said, “Messi wants to go back to Barcelona. I also want Messi to come back. Let’s see.” It looked like the Barcelona comeback was opening.
As is known, Messi missed Barcelona while playing for Paris Saint-Germain. Messi is a one-club man from Barcelona youth, full of Barcelona DNA to the bone. Retirement at Barcelona could be the most beautiful ending for Messi. All other work continued. Coach Xabi Hernandez has also officially requested Messi return. President Laporta has also pushed for Messi to return for a long time. Barcelona did their best to solve the proportional salary cap problem, such as clearing Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets, and tangible results seemed to be coming out. Even the ‘OK sign’ of the La Liga secretariat fell.
But still, Messi has not been able to make an offer that satisfies him. Even though her mentally drained Messi made concessions to return to her hometown, Barcelona’s situation continued to stand still. She failed to satisfy Messi’s need to decide her whereabouts as soon as possible. “It’s true that there were offers from other European teams, but I didn’t even think about that, because in Europe the only place I want to go is Barcelona,” Messi said. “I really wanted to go to Barcelona and I wanted to go back. After going through and leaving the team, I didn’t want to go through the same situation again, having to wait and see what happens.” “I’ve been told that Barcelona will have to sell players and cut other players’ salaries in order to bring me in, and the truth is that I don’t want to go through that or get any of the benefits associated with it,” he said. “But there has been no formal, written, signed offer. Nothing has been done. I don’t know if that will be possible. I haven’t even officially talked about money.”
In the meantime, Inter Miami, owned by David Beckham, jumped in. The whole of Major League Soccer came out. According to The Athletic, Apple TV+, an online video service (OTT) launched by Apple, is responsible for MLS broadcasting for 10 years from this season, and even considered a plan to provide Messi with a portion of the revenue from the ‘season pass’ (one season relay package ticket). .
This shook Messi’s heart. According to the BBC, Messi is known to have opened his mind to various conditions to collaborate with giant brands beyond lifestyle and football. It is expected that support from the American Major League Soccer level will be added. Even in terms of revenue, working with big brands is not up to the amount you can get in Saudi Arabia, but you can earn an equivalent amount. Above all, a new justification for pioneering the US market can be obtained. As Messi already owns a house in Miami, he has met all the conditions for the transfer. “If it was money, I would have gone to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. It seemed like a lot of money to me, but I made my decision based on factors other than money,” Messi said.
The size of the salary he received at Inter Miami was revealed, and Messi’s words turned out to be true. Al-Hilal’s offer for Messi is eight times what Inter Miami is accepting. However, Messi also considered the psychological part. It seems that they considered that going to the United States is much more advantageous in areas such as adaptation and family than Saudi Arabia, where all aspects are unfamiliar. Several articles have appeared saying that Messi suffered from Paris Saint-Germain and was psychologically devastated. “I won the World Cup in Qatar, and when I couldn’t go to Barça, I thought it was time to go to MLS and live my football life in a different way and enjoy my life more,” Messi said. I will do my best to do everything well, but I will be more stable mentally.” After winning the World Cup in Qatar and rising to the ranks of the best in the world, Messi left Europe to decorate the final chapter of his career in the United States.
In terms of annual salary, it may fall behind Ronaldo, but in terms of total income, Messi is likely to rank first. Forbes, an American economic magazine, predicted that “Messi will be able to regain the top spot in Forbes’ annual income rankings for sports players in 2024 just with the terms of the contract with Miami.” It is the amount of global sponsor revenue plus league bonuses. In the annual income rankings of sports players announced by Forbes in May this year, Ronaldo ranked first with $136 million, surpassing Messi with $130 million.
Messi’s trip to Inter Miami is now official. Miami predicted that Messi could play from the League Cup match against Cruz Azul (Mexico) on the 22nd. The heat is already hot. Spanish media Ars recently reported that the price of tickets for the game expected to be Messi’s debut has soared to 10,000 dollars (approximately 12 million won) based on the most expensive seat. Just as Pele changed the culture through the invasion of the United States, Messi also took on new challenges. The final chapter of GOAT’s soccer life unfolds.