After weeks of speculation regarding a possible return to Barcelona, Lionel Messi reached an agreement on a free transfer deal with Inter Miami on Wednesday. The Argentine forward turned down proposals from several clubs, including Saudi Professional League side Al-Hilal.
Messi revealed to Mundo Deportivo on Wednesday that he was open to returning to Barca, especially considering just how his departure from the reigning La Liga champions went down in 2021. All signs pointed to Messi staying put at Barca, but financial complications within the club forced it to put an end to contract talks with the Argentine forward. It did not take him long to find a new club, as he put pen to paper on a two-year free transfer deal with Paris Saint-Germain in Aug. 2021.
There is much that Messi would have liked to have done over regarding his Barcelona exit, including his final farewell to the club.
“For me, it was beautiful, and I enjoyed it, because the truth is that since I left, I left in a strange way, I would have liked to say goodbye like Busi, Jordi, or as happened to Xavi and Iniesta at the time,” Messi told Mundo Deportivo. “I would have liked to leave in that way, to have been able to say goodbye to people well, although it was the time of the pandemic and there could not be people in the stadium.
“I would have liked to know that I was leaving playing with people, to know that I was enjoying it.”
Unlike the likes of Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta, Messi did not receive an opportunity to bid farewell to Barca in front of a packed crowd at the Camp Nou. Instead, he held a press conference in Aug. 2021 to make it official that he would not re-sign with the Catalan side.
The wait is now on for just when Messi will make his first appearance for Inter Miami.
