For the second time in three summers, the football world is on tentahooks in order to find out the next destination for Lionel Messi.
The former Paris Saint-Germain forward reportedly wants to make a decision on his future in the next week, with three teams pushing for his signature. Messi, 35, has offers on the table from Inter Miami and Saudi Arabia, while Barcelona have made it clear they want to bring Messi back to the club.
Father and agent Jorge Messi made it clear that that was also the desire of his son this summer, but as Barcelona try reduce their wage bill to within the La Liga salary limit, they are as of yet unable to guarantee that they could register Messi to play.
There is pessimism in Catalonia that they can do so in time in order to sign Messi, but they now only have one competitor for his signature, according to The Athletic (via Diario AS). Messi has supposedly ruled out the option of heading to Saudi Arabia, limiting his choice to just Inter Miami or Barcelona.
In all likelihood, Messi appears to be waiting to see if Barcelona can make a deal happen, with Inter Miami as his alternative. The Messi family already have a house in Florida, and if he is to leave Europe, it looks as if that will be his destination.
Barcelona’s chief obstacle to making an offer for Messi is sales. In order to balance out their finances better, they must move on players and given deals often take time to develop, their hopes of signing Messi are slipping away.
