Football: Messi flies to Miami and criticizes Paris: “I was not happy”

It was in the Spanish sports dailies “Mundo Deportivo”, “Sport” and “Marca” that Lionel Messi returned to the reasons for his departure from Paris and the choice of his new destination, Inter Miami, in the championship of MLS, while Saudi Arabia was ready to cover him in gold and offer him a contract never before seen in the history of football (on a basis of 500 million euros per year).

The seven-time Ballon d’Or admitted that the two years spent at PSG, although crowned by two French championship titles and by a harvest of 32 goals and 35 assists in 75 outings in the Parisian jersey, did not ultimately generate only sadness and frustration on a private and family level. “During these two years, I was not happy. And it affected my family life, I missed a lot of my children’s life in school. In Barcelona I was going to look for them, here I did it much less, I shared fewer activities with them”, explained La Pulga in ‘Mundo Deportivo’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Marca’.

Welcomed as a hero two years ago, Messi left Paris through the back door and under the whistles of the Parc des Princes. At 35 and after having won everything on the international scene and in the club, Lionel Messi chose to favor the family aspect, despite the rumors that sent him to FC Barcelona until the last moment. “Now is the time to go to MLS and experience football in a different way. I will also be able to spend more time with my family. It’s not for the money. If it had been a question of money, I would have chosen Saudi Arabia,” he added.

Indeed: in Miami, where he should receive around 50 million dollars a year to which will be added various juicy commissions, Messi will play almost for a pittance, one would be tempted to say, in comparison with what he would have been able to pocket in Saudi Arabia…