Discovered: Lionel Messi's contract details at Inter Miami

The arrival of the greatest footballer of all time in Miami has shaken up the football world. Leo Messi will play, once his holidays are over, for Inter Miami in MLS, after having ended his time in Paris and rejected a possible return to Barcelona.

Jorge Mas, owner of the American franchise, has revealed in 'El País' some details of the arrival of the Argentine star to the Florida Peninsula. Mas acknowledges that Messi's signing for his club began to take shape in 2019. "In 2019 we started thinking about how we could bring him in. Messi can turn MLS into the second or third best league in the world. I think he comes with the desire to make a mark, and he can do that beyond football. When he retires he will have a stake in the club," he said. 

Mas said Messi's contract with Inter Miami will be "50 or 60 million a year", a far cry from the Arabian proposal that sought to shower the player with (even more) gold or the nostalgia of Barcelona, where the Catalan club could not offer him even close to those figures. "I was there for three years. A year and a half, very intensely. Many conversations with Jorge. I saw it was done at the end of May. Beckham was talking to Leo, only about football, because he was playing. I didn't want him to feel under pressure. We spoke in Barcelona, Miami, Rosario, Doha.... I spent the whole World Cup in Qatar, watching Argentina. The Apple contract was very important to close the deal," said the chief.

On the arrival of Sergio Busquets, Jorge Mas said: "For us it was essential to surround Messi with players of his level. We have been talking to Busi for about a year now." The Inter Miami owner also acknowledged contacts with Jordi Alba and said that Luis Suarez is under contract and cannot leave.