The two Liverpool players who would go to play in Miami with Messi

It's official. Lionel Messi has confirmed that he will not be returning to his beloved Barcelona and will instead play for Inter Miami, the MLS team owned by former British footballer David Beckham. The MLS team posted a video on social media about all the commotion in recent hours over the news that Messi is going to the US league. At around the same time, Messi himself confirmed it in a joint interview, conducted at his home in Paris, with Catalan newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport.

The Argentine admitted that he was "very eager, very excited" to return to Barcelona, but ruled it out after "having lived through what I lived through and the exit I had (from Barcelona), I didn't want to be in the same situation again: waiting to see what would happen and leave my future in the hands of someone else". He also admitted the problems he had at PSG in his last two years. "I was not happy," he said in the interview.

"It was two years in which I wasn't happy, I didn't enjoy myself, and that affected my family life, I missed a lot of my children's life at school. In Barcelona I went to look for them, here I did it much less, I shared fewer activities with them. The decision (to go to Miami) was also based on that, to reconnect, in inverted commas, with my family, with my children, and to enjoy the day to day", she explained.

The two players who would go to Miami

Given that Inter Miami will now be in the global spotlight, they will need to sign star players to help Messi shine, especially those who are out of contract. One of them is Roberto Firmino, who is leaving Liverpool this summer, and the other is Thiago Alcantara, who will not renew with the Reds and could join Messi and Firmino in 2024.