Where will Lionel Messi next turn? In spite of Argentina international will stay for the second season with PSGThere has been a lot of speculation about the next stage in his career.
The Barcelona the legend will leave for free in June 2023 when his contract with PSG expires, and there are a number of destinations that could tempt him. We asked screenwriters Sam Marsden, Rob Dawson, Tim Vickery, Jeff Carlisle and Julien Laurens to determine the odds of each possible move.
Option 1: Return to Barcelona
A year is a long time for football and even longer in Barcelona. Can Messi, aged 36, return to the Camp Nou to say a sensible farewell to Barca fans?
President Joan Laporta said Messi can only return as a free player, which will happen next summer, so the decision will lie with coach Xavi Hernandez if the player wants to. put on the Barca shirt again.
Xavi is trying to rebuild Barca from the ground up and, while an exception may be made given the club’s short-term financial situation, he wants younger players who will play pressing and trying. Try for 90 minutes. He doesn’t want a player to be exempt from certain duties, but Messi is Messi, and what he did at Barca – scored 672 goals in 778 games; record breaking week after week – possibly never again.
He still means a lot to the club. Plus, he has consistently shown to Argentina, if not Paris Saint-Germain, that he can still make others only dream. And then there’s his relationship with Xavi. If he really wants to come back, and if his salary is no longer an issue, it’s hard to say no.
But there is a feeling in Barca that Messi’s chapter as a player for the club is over. He’s expected to return to the city he calls home sooner, but only if his shoes are hung up – he’s said he wants to be athletic director, for example. But who knows where Barca’s soap opera will take place in 12 months? Strange things have happened in the past two years. – Marsden
The Premier League may present Messi with money and challenges, but the question is whether he wants it or needs it at this stage of his career.
Even in England, only a handful of clubs were able to buy him; detail City of Manchester, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle. His connection to Man City was evident while he was at Barcelona with manager Pep Guardiola, as well as Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, but that ship may have already set sail.
For years, club bosses insisted that if Messi decided to leave the Camp Nou, they would be among the first in line, but when it came to the summer of 2021, they never made the move. any. City were really interested a year earlier in 2020, but Messi ultimately decided to stay at Barcelona. When he finally left, City moved on and PSG were allowed to operate with relative freedom.
City have since invested heavily in younger strikers like Jack Grealish and Erling Haalandand it is doubtful whether they will change positions for Messi – despite the huge commercial appeal of landing the Argentinian.
Adding Messi to an already huge marketing machine would be an important consideration for United, but they are also a club trying to move away from throwing superstars into a mixed squad. fit. They pour money into the moves Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez and Cristiano Ronaldo, but that belongs to former executive vice president Ed Woodward. His successor, Richard Arnold, has handed most of the decision-making power over football to director of football John Murtough, who is trying to build a more balanced group of players for new boss Erik ten Hag after nearly a decade Mistaken recruitment.
Messi’s arrival at Old Trafford will excite fans, but it’s more of a short-term decision than one aimed at long-term success. New Newcastle money and new Chelsea owners present both potential options, but seeing Messi in the Premier League remains unlikely. – Dawson
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Option 3: Come home to Newell’s Old Boys
Over the years, Messi has nurtured a dream to round things off, return to his home city of Rosario and end his career with Newell’s Old Boys, the club he left at the age of 13. one of Ideas are better left as a dream because it seems like a real possibility, the more distant it appears.
Since the moment he parted ways with Barcelona, his fans back home have been delighted to realize that the national team has become his number one priority. But, for some reason, that might not translate into Argentina’s domestic game time.
One is whether he likes football or not. During his return transatlantic trips, Messi was frequently criticized for the South American turf standards. He has been raised on perfect playing surfaces, in a style of football where spectacle is as important as the result. He has never played the “win at all costs” football that has had such an impact on contemporary South American clubs.
And then his family. Rosario may be his home city, but the same doesn’t apply to his children, who love Barcelona and are developing a relationship with Paris.
South American players who have spent long periods in Europe often have problems with their children when they move back. The continent may be the home of the father, but not the home of his children, unaccustomed to the level of social violence that has, for example, witnessed Royal Emerson of the Tottenham in the middle of a gunfight last week after a gun was pointed at him while he was on vacation in Brazil.
Argentine players have experienced similar things. Because of Messi’s status, there would be no hiding place for his kids, especially in a provincial city like Rosario. They will live in a bowl of goldfish – with an ever-present fear that the glass might crack.
So, when his time in Europe comes to an end, a spell in the US could very well be the most likely scenario. The pressure will not be too great for both the player and the father. – Vickery
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Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens will replace Lionel Messi after the striker endured a difficult first season in Paris.
Option 4: Scroll to MLS
It’s a simple rumor that won’t go away: Messi is bound because Inter Miami.
Messi teased the possibility of a return in January 2018, when he sent club co-owner David Beckham a congratulatory video after Inter Miami finally received word that they would start playing in 2020. The two sides have been head-to-head since then and, most recently, three weeks ago, Messi was tipped to head to Miami in the summer of 2023 – along with 35% of the team’s interest. That report was eventually shot down, but a move that could make sense.
Messi owns a $7.6 million condo in Miami Beach, and he may feel it’s the perfect place to spend the last two or three years of his playing career, such as returned to Barcelona as ambassador. His presence is sure to send Miami and MLS into a whirlwind of publicity as excitement for the sport ahead of the 2026 World Cup – which the US co-hosts with Canada and Mexico – begins to grow.
Does MLS share its experience in bringing iconic players to the league, be it Beckham, Thierry Henry or Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Even if Messi’s salary is in the tens of millions – that is, he will earn more than the number Chicago Fire’s Xherdan ShaqiriCurrently the league’s highest paid player – he will be worth every penny.
So which state will Messi land in? It seems to be a long shot. A return to Barcelona has a tractor-trailer pull on the Death Star, and a swan with his longtime club seems like an emotional step in the right direction.
This is also a player who has played with the best, and that fact has tested the patience of many foreign superstars. But Miami managing partner Jorge Mas is a man accustomed to getting what he wants, no matter how long he has to wait. If he can wait 3 and a half years to sign a stadium contract with the city of Miami, a few more years for a super cash like Messi? This is for sure: Mas, along with Beckham, will keep trying. – Carlisle
Option 5: Stay at PSG
When Messi signed for PSG on a free transfer last summer, in what is widely regarded as one of the biggest transfers of all time, the French club’s wish was to ensure him a contract for 3 consecutive years. They eventually had to settle for a two-year deal with the option for another option, but for now the plan is to keep him in Paris for that third year.
It will depend a lot on how his second season in the French capital goes, but there is a lot of hope in the club that if Messi enjoys next season, he will want to continue his career. adventure.
His first campaign was a bit overwhelming at times because he needed time to adjust to his new life and new surroundings, and because he didn’t shine (or score) as much as he did in Barcelona with 11 goals and 15 assists from him. 34 games. But he has finished the season well and has told himself that he hopes his second year at the club will be much improved. If so, and if he feels that he is still competitive and the team can help him win another Champions League there will be more chances for him to continue.
Financially, he’s huge for PSG, and another season with Messi means more money. MNM (Messi, NeymarMbappe trio) adds huge marketing value to the Parisian and from the club’s point of view it is important for Messi to stay for a third year.
PSG still believe they have a better chance of winning the Champions League with him in their squad than without him. – Laurens
