For those of us that enjoy soccer played on all continents, it came as a huge surprise/shock that Lionel Messi ended up playing for Inter Miami in the MLS this season. For those of you not familiar with European Football, Lionel Messi is almost unarguably the greatest player ever to play the game, Yes, better than Maradona and Pele. Which brings us back to the original question – what is the greatest player ever doing playing in a minor league on a team that hadn’t won a game in its last 9? It’s a long story, but one very dependent on the unique personality of Lionel Messi.
Born and raised in Rosario Argentina, young Lionel spent his days on dusty pitches trying to keep up with the older, and bigger kids. Born with a growth deficiency, young Messi was too small to have any expectations of playing professional ball until professional club FC Barcelona – one of the very first professional teams in the sport – decided to take a chance on Lionel and pay upwards of $10,000/month for growth hormone treatments. Even so, Lionel never grew above 5’7” and would always be one of the smallest players on the pitch.
Fast forward through Messi’s career as he won more individual honors than any other player ever and helped his club win a coliseums worth of trophies and suddenly the pandemic is upon us in 2020. Barca has one of the highest payrolls and overall expenses of any club but up until now have had the revenues to finance it all. But the pandemic, along with some nasty backroom mistakes made by the former president Bartomeu, the nasty backroom dealing idiot, made the finances untenable to the point where they could no longer afford Messi’s services and still pay for a decent team around him. Messi was 33 at the time and no doubt the thinking was for the future and so, shockingly, amazingly, Messi was gone from Barca.
Landing at PSG in Ligue 1, Messi’s first year was completely uneventful and it looked to the casual observer like he’d lost his mojo and was on his way out. But a powerful second year at the monied club and leading his country to a World Cup have put him in the conversation for the highest honor yet again.
But even though Lionel had a singular season, PSG still proved that it couldn’t play with the big boys in the Champions league and management decided to blow it up, dispersing what could have been the most potent trident in history with Messi, Mbappe and Neymar.
Messi was the first to go since his contract was ended and his options were virtually limitless. There was no team on earth that didn’t want him and wouldn’t have paid whatever it took to get him. Nonetheless, Messi let it be known that his preferred destination was Barcelona. He had practically grown up there, his children were born there and his wife loved life in Catalonia.
The first bid came from Al Hilal. They were willing to pay him $540 million US per year for 3 years for a total of $1.6 billion dollars! At that point it seemed obvious that he had to take that offer. It was simply too much money to turn down. But Messi was not short of cash. With an estimated net worth of over $700 million, all his wants, his family’s wants and multiple generations of Messi wants are all looked after. They didn’t know Lionel. He’s no empire builder. He wants to play football and at this point in his career, he’s ready to have some fun doing it. He told them no thank you. It definitely wasn’t the best move for his family.
His Agent, Lionel’s Father, delivered to FC Barcelona and Club President Joan Laporta, Messi’s requirements in order to return to the club. No doubt he provided a hometown discount but still, for a club still in such financial disarray it was substantial. At 36 years old, Messi was still among the elite of the world’s most popular sport, but for how long and just how competitive did he want to be? What could Barca buy for the roughly $50 million in salary they would have to pay Lionel? Did it make sense for the longer term?
In the end, Laporta said no to bringing him back. It would stretch Barcelona financially too far for too long and would inevitably delay a much needed renewal. Barcelona needed to get younger.
I can’t imagine how surprised or disappointed Lionel and his entire family must have felt with that rejection. But he still had many options, but Lionel decided no, it was time for a wholesale change. A change that would allow him to simply enjoy playing the game again in a league where he truly would be a giant among men. David Beckham had been reaching out to Lionel for a long time and this time Lionel said yes. A simple answer from a simple man who had achieved everything there was to achieve in his sport and most of them several times over.
So for those of you lucky enough to have the opportunity to see him live or watch him on the big screen, you should take it as often as you can. We are in the presence of the greatest football player of all time. Enjoy.