Goodbye Pharaoh, the 80 million that would take Salah to play in the US

Lionel Messi, will take his talents to the United States. The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player and world football superstar announced Wednesday that he is set to play in MLS with Inter Miami after declaring himself a free agent this summer. The idea of seeing a player who led Argentina to the World Cup title less than six months ago playing for a club in the United States has rocked the football world.

What prompted Messi, a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, to make the jump to the United States? What impact will a signing of such stature have on MLS and football in the United States? How will Barcelona's disappointment that Messi will not return to the club with which he won 35 major trophies and left as their all-time leading scorer affect them? And will the striker's fans, who consider him the Greatest of All Time, follow him in his new challenge?

Messi's contract with PSG expires at the end of this month. But in reality, rather than a free agent signing, this deal is more akin to a corporate partnership between Inter Miami, MLS, the league's current TV rights holder (Apple), Adidas and the Lionel Andres Messi Corporation. We experienced this in 2007, when David Beckham (who is a partial shareholder of Inter Miami, as if to demonstrate the circularity of human existence) signed for the LA Galaxy. And to be honest, it would have been more or less similar if he had gone to the Saudi Pro League, except that in that case it would be one source footing the bill: the Arab nation's sovereign wealth fund.

Salah's decision

This idea of the United States signing world football stars will bring a bid for Mohamed Salah, who had a great season with Liverpool with 30 goals and 16 assists, but is getting old. The offer should be around 80 million which is what PSG wanted to offer a few weeks ago to sign him.