2023-06-08 17:17:30
It is with these two sentences that I decided to start this column, like anchors allowing me to land following this extraordinary announcement.
The rumour, which was spreading like wildfire on social media on Wednesday followingnoon, turned into news at 3 p.m. when Messi decided to communicate his decision to the general public.
It must be said that I was greatly surprised by the choice of the Argentine number 10.
When I was still a player, I had the chance to play alongside international stars like Alessandro Nesta, Marco Di Vaio or Didier Drogba.
This time, we are entering a dimension never equaled, because the MLS welcomes the man who is considered by many to be the best player of all time, seven-time Ballon d’Or, reigning world champion and best player of the tournament.
Something to shake up the soccer world and see MLS and Inter Miami in first place on Twitter around the world. And Thursday morning, the American franchise’s Instagram account went from 1 million to 5 million subscribers in less than 24 hours…
During our last podcast Tellement soccer, my friend Olivier Tremblay, who has always believed in the arrival of Messi in MLS, came up once morest my argument in which I affirmed that it was impossible, for a high-level athlete , to refuse pharaonic offers exceeding hundreds of millions of euros.
However, it is a contract from Saudi Arabia of around one billion euros that the Argentinian prodigy would have refused in order to be part of the global project offered to him by the MLS.
First, on a sporting level, I sincerely believe that MLS will offer them a much higher level of competition than Saudi Arabia. Even if he arrives in a team in great difficulty and in last position in the Eastern Association, he will find in North America a homogeneous, competitive championship, with the ambition of getting closer year following year to the European level.
On the family level, his mixed performance at PSG had a direct impact on his relations with those close to him. The less frantic pace of the championship in MLS will certainly allow him to spend a lot more quality time with his wife and children.
Lionel Messi following Argentina won the World Cup
Photo : Lionel Messi
A wish that he also expressed on Wednesday, in an interview. It even gives me the feeling that he regretted his choice to go to Paris Saint-Germain.
Already owning a residence in Miami, it will be much easier for him to adapt to his new life.
And on the financial side, Lionel Messi will benefit from an unprecedented commercial arrangement that impresses me to the highest degree.
Apple paid $2.5 billion to acquire the rights to MLS. The agreement, which stretches over 10 years, will allow all football lovers, including Messi, to connect in one click to Apple TV to follow the exploits of the Argentinian elf.
No other North American sports league has bet so big on digital.
This is an agreement that will allow Messi to benefit from a percentage on subscriptions and the possibility of buying shares in a franchise in the future.
A winning combination for all stakeholders, but especially for MLS, which has just achieved one of the greatest blows in the history of high-level sport.
The arrival of Messi will undoubtedly accelerate the development and growth of the league exponentially by allowing North American fans, young and old, to see before their eyes, in the flesh, the best player in the league. history.
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