Jhon Cando, 11th Grade

Acclaimed football player Lionel Messi, commonly referred to as Messi, is an Argentinian football legend. Messi has built his way to success and triumph many times by winning countless tournaments like the European Super Cups, Champions League, and even the famous FIFA World Cup back in 2022. The career he has managed to create makes him one of the if not best football players in the world, a belief fans and supporters around the world hold true. Although Lionel receives a great amount of support, recently some cases have emerged where hate has been shown towards this champion because of one decision made by this prodigy a little back in the summer of 2021.

Around August of 2021, Lionel Messi made official his abandonment of FC Barcelona, a professional football club that he had been a part of for almost 15 years. After winning trophy after trophy, the tearful departure from this club had an impact on the football community. Once he left, Messi joined the PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) where he remained for over a year, scoring 17 goals out of 33 matches. However, this June, it was confirmed that Messi had left his football club for a better contract. But this is where the game started to hit a turn.

Messi was offered a significantly large amount of money to play for Saudi Arabia which everyone thought would be Messi’s course of action, but that’s where we were wrong. He rejected the contract that Saudi Arabia offered and instead went on to play for what was at the time the last in the league and that was Inter Miami FC. One of the main reasons why Messi decided to go through with the plan was because he owned property in the state and was earning over 60 million dollars a year; Jorge Mas, owner of Inter Miami FC dreamed of bringing Messi into the US to enrich the soccer business in the country. Messi’s change to Miami was a surprise for the community, an astonishing yet unpredictable move, He has now moved to the state with his wife and his 3 children, since he affirmed he was also in the look for a place for his family.

While Lionel Messi’s change remains as one of the biggest twists in his career, he is doing fairly well in the league so far winning one trophy for Miami and remains active as a player. Despite having fans disputing and arguing about his recent decisions with the PSG and the team in Saudi Arabia, Lionel Messi has surpassed and is ultimately still successful even with his change of teams.

References:

Florian Lefèvre(2023). “Messi at PSG: Two years of failed great expectations” https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2023/06/01/messi-at-psg-two-years-of-failed-great-expectations_6028757_9.html

Sid Lowe (2021). “Jaw-dropping sport moments of 2021: Lionel Messi leaves Barcelona” https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/27/jaw-dropping-sport-moments-of-2021-lionel-messi-leaves-barcelona

Nick Selbe (2023). “Lionel Messi Explains Why He Chose Inter Miami Over Saudi Arabian Club, Other Options” https://www.si.com/soccer/2023/06/07/lionel-messi-explains-why-he-chose-inter-miami-saudi-arabian-club-barcelona