r/soccer redditors rejoice because now Messi won't be finishing his career in an oppressive war-mongering state, which uses sports as propaganda to sell itself worldwide
As a fan of a different team in the league this is still incredible to see. Would have been neat to see him finish off his career back at Barcelona as well, but at least he's not going the Saudi Arabia route.
Oh for fuck sakes, if they want the football business to make it in the US stop wasting money in Beckhams and Messis and put money in their inferior leagues god dammit.
Your info is outdated. They've been investing heavily in youth development and rising south american stars for years now. These types of signings have become very rare, but you can't pass on Messi given the chance. Just go look at the recent signings to see how much it has changed.
Also, the football business is absolutely BOOMING in the US right now, but you've got the right idea - it's because the quality has drastically increased and not because of a few aging star players who struggle to keep up with the league. Messi, though, will definitely put more eyes on MLS both here and worldwide.
every time my friend describes English soccer fans i think "what a giant pack of morons." At least Americans have contained our sports riots to losing/winning championships, they riot over meaningless games.
More passionate dipshits means more passionate buyers
Manga de pechos frío https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=57OoJYY4nNQ
that's great - I like going out for away days without fearing for my safety
Yeah, but like, it just hasn't been true except for a stretch of celebrity signings many years ago. Now the league has players like Thiago Almada (22 years old, was on the world cup winning Argentina squad) littered throughout the league. The LA Galaxy still try to wring some old players for one last run, but everyone else stopped doing that a long time ago. Now it's extreme scouting of South America combined with heavy investment on youth development. That's just the clear path the league has been on for years now so the retirement league comments are always coming from people who haven't payed any attention to the league since Beckham.
It's kind of silly to act like aging star players don't frequently take a step down to extend their careers. No one would ever accuse second tier Euro leagues of being unserious retirement homes yet MLS fans have to deal with this every time people who don't follow the league try to comment on it. Is the Belgian league a retirement destination because Komapany went back for a year? It just gets old hearing this when it isn't true. People who actually watch the league can clearly see how young, technical, and athletic it has become.
I'm going to disengage because I hate this kind of disingenuous internet talk.
:powercry-2:
He definitely could have managed more years at the highest level. But clearly he's not confident that Barca can register him.
I think at this point his priority is to cash out, and Barca can't justify spending even more than they already have on signing an older striker. He finally won the WC, I say let the man kick it up in MLS and get that bag.
Messi hasn't played as a lone striker or false nine since Suarez went to Barca, and that was almost 10 years ago. But otherwise yeah I agree. Miami is like the perfect place for rich Latinos to live it up, I guess he wants to do that.
Oh yeah I know that, but the trend has almost always been that the older players that add the most to a team are further back in the field. Explosivity and speed is everything if you want to be anything more forward than a back midfielder, and speed is a young person's domain.
Also, the European leagues wring their players dry, no matter their status. As far as I know, the level of physical strain is not as bad in the US. So if I was Messi and I would like to keep playing football without risking destroying my aging body, I would move to a place that offered that.
Yeah he said in an interview that he didn't want to leave his fate up to anyone else this time (like how he ended up at PSG) so he's taking the Miami deal.
Yeah, so he wasn't confident in the Barca plan. That's embarrassing for La Liga and Barcelona.
Looks like he may be reuniting with Tata Martino as well
https://twitter.com/gastonedul/status/1666484516821557248?s=20
The world just wasn't ready to see Phil Neville managing Messi
At least Barcelona won't need to sell a bunch of players to fit Messi into their budget just for 1 year. Like I don't think they should be trying to sell Fati right now, and trying to sell off De Jong before was pretty crazy. They already have a pretty good young core.
It might be Real Madrid with the bigger transfer moves this summer though, got more spots to fill.
Fati is finished though, he's already destroyed both knees. Barca should absolutely sell him while his stock is still relatively high. Unfortunately that's the sad reality of sports, if your body goes, it goes, no matter your talent.
No way Barca should sell de Jong though.
Barca have a big hole at right wing and Messi would have fit in well. But sadly he's going to the US.
Fabrizio Romano is the single most reliable transfer breaker in the game. Once he says "here we go" it's 100% happening
Ah wasn't familiar with him. Or maybe I have and just didn't remember lol.
