Argentine superstar Lionel Messi reportedly turned his back on a $1 billion deal to play in the Saudi Pro League.
Instead, he is now with Inter Miami League of USA's Major Soccer League.
The American club's co-owner said the 2022 World Cup winner came to America because of the level of competition.
"Look at the competitive nature of Lionel Messi," Jorge Mas, co-owner of Inter Miami, said. "He's a killer, and Lionel Messi has come to this country to win, and a significant portion of our conversations have been on the sporting side.
Was he right in rejecting the Saudi offer? Messi's camp is not dumb enough to dismiss an offer as good as what Saudi football forwarded. Inter Miami's offer is just as good.
Inter Miami salary
Messi's salary with the MLS soccer team is not as high compared to what he earned from European clubs.
He made $38 million per season with Paris St. Germain and $54 million annually with Barcelona.
He is currently the highest-paid player in MLS, but it is still less than what he was making in Europe - $20 million per year.
Toronto's Lorenzo Insigne follows him on the list of fattest paychecks with a $15.4 million annual salary, followed by Chicago's Xherdan Shaqiri at $8,153,000 and LA Galaxy's Javier Hernández at $7,443,750.
Mess will stay with Inter Miami until 2025, but the club has the option to extend him for 12 more months.
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Messi can still get back the $1 billion he rejected
Yes, Messi is learning less than what he was getting in Europe, but there is more to his decision other than a club salary.
He could earn $1 billion by just being in MLS.
Apple and Adidas played a role in bringing the eight-time Ballon d'Or to American turf. A Bloomberg article even compared Messi's service to Apple's answer to Squid Game by Netflix, alluding to how the Korean TV series helped the streaming company sweep American and Asian households.
Reports revealed that Messi signed a pact with Apple to have an individual revenue-sharing deal with the league's broadcaster, Apple TV. The same terms were also signed with MLS apparel partner Adidas, with whom he is also an endorser.
Apple signed a 10-year broadcast deal with MLS early in 2023 - months before Messi came into the picture.
When rumors surfaced that Messi was looking into the American soccer league for his next stop, Apple did not think twice and helped bring him to the USA. The tech firm offered the Argentine a share of the revenue from MLS Season Pass.
Apple's Tim Cook is personally excited about Messi
Apple CEO Tim Cook himself was excited about the MLS partnership. He was thrilled with the deal because of Messi.
"We are excited about our MLS partnership, and we're thrilled to see Messi suiting up with Inter Miami. It's clearly in the early days, but we are beating our expectation in terms of subscribers, and the fact that Messi went to Inter Miami helped us out there a bit - and so we're very excited about it," he said during the company's quarterly earnings call.
Apple is obviously happy with Messi. The Argentine surely does not regret rejecting Saudi Arabia.
Related article: Lionel Messi - Ranking All of His 8 Ballon D'or Wins
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