According to the BBC on Wednesday, Lionel Messi is set to reject a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia and instead opt for a move to Inter Miami in Major League Soccer as a free agent, following his departure from French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona and La Liga’s financial fair play rules

Messi, who played his final game for PSG over the weekend, was also linked with a return to Barcelona but the Spanish club have had their hands tied due to La Liga’s financial fair play rules.

Should the deal with Miami go through, the 35-year-old Argentine will play outside Europe for the first time since he joined Barca’s academy at the age of 13 and became the Spanish club’s all-time record goalscorer with 672 goals.

MLS could not confirm the BBC report and said that the league approves all player contracts.

Inter Miami did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Messi’s negotiations

Messi had wanted to go to a club where he could eventually have an ownership stake, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters this week. He also wanted to maximize his existing deal with Adidas and MLS’s relationship with Apple.

Apple TV streaming platform

MLS earns a flat fee of around $250 million per year from Apple until it reaches a certain threshold of subscriptions, after which point it will earn a share of the revenue from those subscriptions.

Messi’s move to MLS is expected to drive viewers to the Apple TV streaming platform, as the world’s most recognizable football player.

PSG exit

Once the crown jewel of European football, Messi has effectively been let go by two super clubs in two years – for free.

At Barcelona, Messi has several records to his name at the club he did not want to leave, in a city he had called home since he was a teenager.

But Messi had no choice in the manner of his exit from Barcelona in 2021 as the club failed to make it financially feasible to retain his services.

His move away from PSG, however, is of his own volition as he felt the French club lacked a project for the future while fan unrest only hastened his exit.

The highs after winning Argentina’s first World Cup in 36 years were quickly offset by the lows he experienced in Paris.

Even before he could rest on his World Cup laurels he found himself in the eye of a storm when, for the first time in his illustrious career, his club’s fans turned against him amid PSG’s troubling form.

Supporters of PSG, owned and funded by Qatar Sports Investments, have become accustomed to winning domestic titles in the past decade. They won their ninth title in 11 seasons last month.

But the holy grail – the Champions League – remains elusive after yet another meek exit in the last 16.