Lionel Messi: Former Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov has shared his feelings about why Messi joined Inter Miami, snubbing Barcelona and a Saudi move. Stoichkov said money doesn’t matter to Messi as he plays for his love for football. He also didn’t believe Messi would come back to Barcelona because of how he had to leave in 2021. Barcelona would’ve had to reduce the salaries of several players and get rid of some of them to afford them. Stoichkov believes Messi didn’t want his teammates to go through that experience.
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Lionel Messi had to leave Barcelona in 2021 due to financial issues. The Argentine has spent most of his career at Barcelona and it seemed he wanted to stay there until the time of his retirement. However, the news that they couldn’t continue his contract came suddenly. He then moved to PSG where he spent 2 years albeit unhappily. When he was ready to move away from PSG, offers came his way from Barcelona, Inter Miami, and the Saudi club Al-Hilal who were offering a €500 million salary.
When the time came, snubbed the huge salary and joined Inter Miami. Talking to Stats Perform, about Messi’s decision, Barcelona legend Hristov Stoichkov said, “We didn’t play for money, we played for love. This shows greatness. It didn’t matter to me to know my salary or the bonuses, for me it was more important to play and that people value me. The agents take care of the other things. Messi comes to compete and play and he doesn’t care about money because he loves football.”
Messi mostly wanted to come back to Barcelona. However, he also snubbed the chance to join them remembering the ordeal he had to go through during his move to PSG. Stoichkov said, “I knew that he was not going to return because of the way and the impact of what happened when he left Barcelona. He wanted to stay at all costs to finish his career at Barcelona, but he couldn’t. I didn’t believe it, even though I had the opportunity to talk with him, with his father and his brothers.”
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When Messi announced his Inter Miami move, he also talked about why he wasn’t joining Barcelona. Barcelona failed to convince him that they could sign him before the transfer window closed. Talking about how Messi is criticised for that move, Stoichkov said, “I, as a former Barcelona player and partner, have always liked having the best players and Messi did not deserve that exit [in 2021]. Many people criticise him because he did not want to return, but they do not think about how he left.”
Talking about why Messi should not be criticised, Stoichkov added, “Messi has done something that few people would do, say that he was not going to return so that his team-mates do not suffer. This shows his greatness, because he could return but surely the president was going to have to lower the salaries of the players and cut other costs for this to happen. Messi never wanted a team-mate to experience those things. The claims that he did not want to return are not true.”
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