It hasn’t taken long for Messi mania to take hold in the United States after the announcement that the Argentinian’s new club would be Inter Miami of Major League Soccer and not, as may have been hoped, FC Barcelona, or, as expected, Al Hilal of the Saudi Pro League.
The World Cup winner made the huge announcement on Wednesday evening, which appeared to take many by surprise.
An extensive interview with both Sport newspaper and Mundo Deportivo set out the player’s reasoning behind the move.
Though he expressed a clear preference to return to Barca, the club were not in a position to sign him at this point and it appeared he wasn’t prepared to wait and see how things would pan out across the summer, only to be let down at the last minute again as he was in 2021.
Tickets for every MLS match vs. Inter Miami across the whole ?? have been completely sold out.
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— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) June 8, 2023
The decision would surely have felt like a dagger in the heart for most Barca fans, and for the president of the club, Joan Laporta.
Not to mention the board of Al Hilal who were, apparently, willing to make him the highest paid footballer to have ever played the game.
However, now it’s time for everyone to move on, and it will be MLS fans that will get to see the next stage of his illustrious career.
So impactful has the news of his signing been, that in less than 24 hours, all of Inter Miami’s away fixtures have sold out already according to the USNMT Only Twitter account.