Lionel Messi - A Brave New World
As Bob Dylan once sung, the times they are-a changing.
Hello all. I’m Casey Evans and this is Played on Paper, a pay-to-read football newsletter written by yours truly. If you’re reading this, you’ve either received it in your inbox, had it shared with you or come across it on social media.
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Alright, let’s get into it….
“Messi is one of the best players I’ve played against and also one of the finest players I’ve ever seen.” - David Beckham
We are at the beginning of the end. For nearly 19 years we’ve been able to enjoy one of the greatest footballers ever playing at the top level, but with the announcement that Lionel Messi will join Inter Miami this summer, that chapter of football is coming to a close.
Not only is he going across the Atlantic to play in a Brave New World, you could say we as fans are preparing for one as well; one that doesn’t contain Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing at the top level.
Back before the World Cup, I wrote about how Messi lifting the Jules Rimet would be a fitting end point for his story; we could still enjoy the epilogue but we could also ignore it if it didn’t go the way that we wanted.
But does his move to David Beckham’s Inter Miami mark a fitting final chapter or will it be something we overlook when we recount the story of Lionel Messi to future generations?
Some fans hoped that the end of this story would be a romantic one.
After two years away in Paris, many thought that Messi would make a triumphant return to the (Spotify) Camp Nou… especially Barcelona and President Joan Laporta.
But don’t worry, Laporta didn’t take the announcement that Messi would be moving to MLS to heart in Barcelona’s official statement on the club’s official website…
“President Laporta understood and respected Messi's decision to want to compete in a league with fewer demands, further away from the spotlight and the pressure he has been subject to in recent years.”
Well never mind that then… but despite Barcelona being disappointed that he isn’t returning to Spain this summer, I think it’s best that this remained only a reunion in theory.
Messi’s legacy at Barcelona is bulletproof, but I still wouldn’t put it under threat of gunfire if I didn’t have to.
Messi registered 21 goals and 20 assists in 41 games for Paris Saint Germain, which is an incredible return for a 35-year-old, even if he is playing for the best team in Ligue 1. However, you can expect that in the near future, he will start to decline.
Given that Barcelona would have needed to sell several players and forgo transfers to bring Messi back to the club, effectively building their team around him once again, this seems like a dangerous proposition.
Messi wanted to return1, but it seems like he understood that despite La Liga approving the deal (I mean of course they would, they only have one star player and he’s being racially abused), Barcelona weren’t in a position to sanction the move:
"I really wanted, I was very excited to be able to return [to Barcelona], but after having experienced what I experienced and the exit I had, I did not want to be in the same situation again.
"I heard that they had to sell players or lower players' salaries and the truth is that I didn't want to go through that, nor take charge of obtaining something that had to do with all that.”
Under Xavi, Barcelona have built a title-winning squad around a young core of players such as Pedri, Gavi, Ousmane Dembele, Alejandro Balde and Ronald Araujo (to name just a few).
They have also parted ways with the likes of Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, meaning they are moving away from the old guard who played with Messi during his time at the (Spotify) Nou Camp in favour of their own Brave New World.
Therefore the potential move for Messi was one driven by emotion rather than logic; it would have disrupted the status quo. Romance is dead, so to speak.
So now we’ve established that a return to Barcelona wouldn’t have been the perfect epilogue to his story, we must discuss whether his move to the MLS is that instead.
Before we get started discussing Messi’s move to the MLS, I would like to state that this newsletter is written on the assumption that everyone reading is a sensible adult.
Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo was still playing in Europe at the age of 35, but to be honest, no one cares.
And if you want to come at me and say ‘Well you mocked Ronaldo moving to the Saudi League’, I’ll rebuke you by saying, yes I did, but that was because he spent way too long saying he was still at Champions League level before moving there with no other clear offers.
An MLS move has always been on the cards for Messi, he has spoken on many occasions about how he wanted to cross the pond at some point during his career. Back in 2020 in an interview with La Sexta, he stated:
“I would like to play in the United States someday, it’s always been one of my dreams... but I don't know if it will happen!”.
To pursue this ‘dream move’, he has turned down the aforementioned move back to Barcelona, but he also rejected a move to Saudi Arabia, where he could have reignited his rivalry with Ronaldo.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has stated that $20bn will be made available for clubs in the Saudi Pro League to help attract the biggest names and raise the profile of the league.2
Karim Benzema was offered a salary of €600m over two years to make the move to Al-Ittihad this summer and he will be joined by N’Golo Kante who has been offered €200m.
Other names have also been touted such as Heung Min Son (in 2024) and Romelu Lukaku and you’d expect that they will try and lure some of the previously mentioned free agents from Barcelona to the league as well.
However, we’re not going to kid ourselves by saying that Messi is joining Inter Miami for the love of the game, he’s getting well-paid there as well.
The Miami Herald reported that the base deal would see Messi earn around $125-150m over the length of a two-and-a-half-year contract, however on top of this Apple, who broadcast the MLS, and Adidas, the league’s main kit provider, have stated that the Argentinian will receive a monetary share of subscription sign-ups and shirt sales respectively.
I would love to buy into the romance of the move, but as I said before romance is dead. One of the great downfalls of being a sports writer is you approach everything with a large degree of cynicism.
Messi understands the power of his brand. The Ronaldo vs Messi rivalry may have sustained La Liga for many years and allowed both players to raise their legends even further3 but now it is no longer necessary.
This is the epilogue, Messi has already completed his hero’s journey, now like Frodo Baggins he gets to cross the sea to the Undying Lands and enjoy the fruits of his labour.
But what if we’ve been looking at this all wrong (well not entirely because that would render this newsletter moot), maybe this isn’t an epilogue; maybe Messi’s story follows a story that doesn’t conform to the norm.
The MLS was founded in 1993 and while it has grown in popularity since then, Messi’s arrival will take it into another stratosphere.
The league has had stars such as Thierry Henry, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa and Gareth Bale before, but they did not arrive at the peak of their popularity and their ages only created the image of a ‘retirement league’.
Messi might be 35, but he was and still remains a bigger star than the aforementioned names. Within 24 hours of his transfer announcement, Inter Miami tickets have sold out and are being resold at astronomical prices.
This is incredible as Inter Miami suck (they currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference and have just sacked coach Phil Neville4).
Messi’s arrival combined with the World Cup in 2026 being hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico has the potential to increase the profile of football (soccer) in the country.
The MLS League Pass also means that fans around the world can watch games more easily (currently) than the Saudi Pro League (an issue that the Chinese Super League ran into when it tried to start building a new super league from scratch).
Voting is also underway for the MLS All-Star game where a team will be selected to play Arsenal, but you would expect that the MLS find a way to add Messi to the vote. And if he is, there is no doubt that he will be lining up against Mikel Arteta’s side on July 19th.
We are entering into a Brave New World, but not the one that we expected.
Many thought that the world ahead was one post-Messi & Ronaldo but instead, it seems like we’re entering a reality where global financial superpowers are trying to shift the balance of power in football.
The MLS will be hoping that Messi’s arrival gets more eyes on the league, helps them attract more players and with the financial boost they will also be hoping to improve youth recruitment and development in the country, which will positively affect the national team.
Saudi Arabia are also trying to do the same, and it won’t be long before they move away from older free agents and try to tempt some of Europe’s top stars to make the move across so they can corner the market like they have with LIV golf and force major change.
Whether it will be successful we will have to see, but whatever happens, a change is coming and we are about to enter into a Brave New World.
This makes Laporta’s statement even weirder.
Saudi Arabia also wants to raise their profile to hold the World Cup, but given Argentina also are bidding to host the tournament, Messi helping a rival could be problematic.
Every hero needs their villain (whichever way around you see that is up to you).
Everyone wanted Messi to be coached by Phil Neville, we were robbed.