It is known that
Paris Saint-Germain is, for now, the only alternative that is in
Lionel Messi
's head
beyond June 30, 2023. Despite the premature and painful elimination in the current edition of the
Champions League
and All the
impious criticism
that rains down on him every time he plays and the results are not good,
the priority of the captain of the Argentine National Team
is to listen to the economic and sporting proposal that
Nasser Al Khelaïfi
, the owner of the club, and company will make to Jorge Messi , father and representative of crack, in the coming days.
From then on, after that talk that he was pending,
Leo will have in his possession the key to his future.
And
the roads are two.
If you like the Qataris' proposal and it fits, Messi will surely continue another season in Ligue 1 together with
Kylian Mbappé and Neymar?
And end of story.
On the other hand, if the negotiations cool down and the paths begin to fork,
Messi's priority is to continue in Europe
with the idea of reaching a competitive team that allows him to be a protagonist at a continental level.
Unlocked that desired level of winning the World Cup that unforgettable December 18 at the Lusail stadium, the Argentine's main objective is to raise the
Orejona
again , that trophy that has been systematically denied since 2015.
The problem is that
the universe of teams with feasible claims to become kings of the continent, without PSG and without FC Barcelona, is considerably reduced
.
Between salary limits, financial fair play and the scarcity of friendly places for a new family move, the scenario becomes increasingly complex.
There will be no excess offers.
That is why
on the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, they are already beginning to prepare a master plan
to try to get the services of one of the most important footballers in history.
Luis Campos and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi greet Messi at PSG training.
Photo: AFP
There are several ingredients that help.
Beyond the fact that nothing compares to the warmth of home in the convulsed Rosario nor to his fully reconciled life in his adoptive Casteldefels, on the outskirts of Barcelona, it has come out on more than one occasion that Messi sees the United States as a likely destination once once I no longer have or feel that voracity to be the best of the best.
On the other hand, the North American giant will be an epicenter of soccer in the next three years with the Copa América to be held in 2024 and with the World Cup that it will share in 2026 with Mexico and Canada.
That is where the pieces begin, almost without wanting it, to fit together.
Messi, according to the eyes of American businessmen, will become -if he accepts the invitation-
the visible face and the best possible seller of these two mega-events
.
It would also allow Major League Soccer (MLS)
to make a huge leap in quality
, a league that does not stop growing and that, in turn, does not finish taking off in the super competitive professional sport of the United States, with the NFL. (American football), the MLB (baseball), the NBA (basketball) and even the NHL (ice hockey) as main adversaries.
David Beckham wants Messi on his team.
Photo: AFP
The injection of 2,500 million dollars that came from the recent agreement with Apple TV
in exchange for the exclusivity of the television rights of the competition for the next ten years would provide the league with liquidity to tempt Messi, even over the power of Middle Eastern petrodollars.
The only limitation would be the salary restrictions, since each franchise has a maximum of three footballers to whom it can pay a salary that exceeds the limit established by the league.
But that, they estimate, can be solved.
Inter Miami, owned by Cuban businessman Jorge Más Santos and former English soccer player David Beckham, is the team that makes the most efforts to have Messi.
Leo, who usually chooses Florida as an occasional vacation destination - in addition to being a place where the family business has some of its real estate ventures - has already been polled on several occasions.
However, so far, the response has been a friendly "not for now."
However, from Inter they do not give up.
"It became Jorge Más Santos' priority
," said Jerome Meary, a soccer player agent who usually serves as a bridge between Europe and the MLS, in statements to the French newspaper
L'Equipe
. The representative assures that the calls intensified during the World Cup from Qatar.
Who is Jorge Mas Santos?
Son of Jorge Más Canosa, an anti-Castro Cuban businessman who made his fortune with the company MasTec -offers engineering, construction, installation, maintenance and updating services for energy infrastructure, public services and communications-.
Jorge Más Santos, the owner of Inter Miami along with David Beckham, wants to have Messi in his ranks.
Photo: EFE
Más Santos inherited the empire from his father, who died in 1997, and later began to invest part of his fortune in the world of sports.
In addition to Inter Miami, of which he owns 90% of the share package, Más Santos is the owner of
Real Zaragoza
, a historic Spanish soccer team that is currently in the Second Division.
This all-powerful businessman thinks he can emulate what MLS did when it added its current partner to the ranks of the competition.
The
Spice Boy
arrived there in 2007 to join the ranks of the Los Angeles Galaxy, very close to Hollywood, and stayed for six seasons -with a stopover at Milan in Italy- before ending his career, precisely, at PSG .
Then, the Englishman with the prodigious punch signed a contract for about 30 million dollars a year that allowed the American league to revalue itself with one of the great stars of world soccer.
The idea, now, is to emulate the Beckham plan with Messi.
But instead of having the Pacific and the glamor of Beverly Hills nearby, the scenery could be the Atlantic and all the Latin imprint of Miami.
The main problem is that Leo, if he agrees, will be far from the center of world football.
It would be, as happened with the forced exile of
Cristiano Ronaldo
in Saudi Arabia, an early retirement.
A kind of winter quarters.
Is it the right time?
That is why MLS has another card up its sleeve.
According to
The Athletic
site , a site specializing in the analysis of news and sporting events,
the idea is also to offer Messi the possibility of owning a franchise
.
As with Michael Jordan in the NBA - he is the main shareholder of the Charlotte Hornets - La
Pulga
could be the owner of a team in a combo that would include the possibility of expanding into other areas in the immense market of the United States.
For now, all this is part of a project.
A kind of American dream -a chimera- that can begin to take shape if what Messi does not want to happen for now happens, which is to be left without a place to be happy and competitive in Europe.
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