BEIJING/SHANGHAI — Argentine superstar Lionel Messi arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a friendly match before leaving a storied European career to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami as a free agent.
If you are not a soccer fan and you are trying to figure out how big this Lionel Messi to Inter Miami thing is, here is some impressive piece of data: The club's Instagram number of followers has gone from 900,000 people on Wednesday morning – when the first reports of the deal started to appear online – to over six million on Thursday afternoon.
That's more than FIVE MILLION new fans in about 30 hours.
We took a screenshot at 1:46 p.m. ET, about an hour before Messi confirmed the news and the count was 1.6M. On Thursday, 5:54 p.m. ET, the number was already at 6M.
Lionel Messi is in the bag. Oh, yeah! Inter Miami defeated FC Barcelona and a colossal offer from Saudi Arabia to snatch the Argentine star in a move labeled as a new dawn for MLS.
However, business is not over. Several reports say Messi will not be the only top-tier player arriving in Florida. In fact, at least five other names are being linked to Inter Miami to help him in this adventure. And all of them are good friends of the Rosario native.
Major League Soccer completed its biggest transfer in history on Wednesday when Lionel Messi confirmed that he will leave Paris Saint-Germain to join Inter Miami.
BREAKING: Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, here we go! The decision has been made and it will be announced by Leo in the next hours #InterMiami
Messi will play in MLS. No more chances for Barcelona/Al Hilal despite trying to make it happen.
A la espera de la confirmación oficial-oficial, la llegada de Lionel Messi a la MLS parece estar cocinada. De acuerdo a varios reportes, el argentino descartó un last dance con el Barcelona y una colosal propuesta de $1,2 billones de dólares del fútbol árabe para jugar en el Inter Miami.
LIONEL MESSI IS COMING TO MLS! LIONEL MESSI IS COMING TO MLS! LIONEL MESSI IS COMING TO MLS!
Well, that is if we believe the report of Guillem Balague. Who's that guy? A BBC and CBS collaborator who also happens to be Messi's biographer.
Messi has decided. His destination: Inter Miami
Leo Messi se va al Inter Miami— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) June 7, 2023
Lionel Messi, who last week played his last game for Paris St Germain, is open to making a return to LaLiga side Barcelona, the Argentine forward's father said on Monday.
Barça were forced to let their talisman leave in 2021 because his high wages coupled with strict LaLiga financial rules could have jeopardized the club's future.
Messi, who joined Barcelona's youth set-up aged 13 and went on to become the club's all-time top scorer and appearance maker with 672 goals in 778 games in all competitions, moved to PSG as a free agent on a two-year contract.
The unhappy marriage between Lionel Messi and PSG is over. After the 3-2 defeat vs. Clermont Foot on Saturday, the Argentine superstar went home, packed his suitcase and said au revoir to the French capital.
The thing is that when Messi exited, thousands of his fans also abandoned the club in a stampede.
When PSG posted its goodbye message to the world champion, their Instagram base was over 71.4 million followers.
One day after, the number was 69 million.
Lionel Messi will play his last game for Paris St Germain against Clermont on Saturday, coach Christophe Galtier said on Thursday as he called on fans to give the Argentine forward a warm send-off at the Parc des Princes.
Messi, who has 21 goals and 20 assists for PSG in all competitions this season, moved to the French capital from Barcelona in 2021 on a two-year contract.
The rumor mill is bursting with the idea that Inter Miami and Barcelona are concocting a special formula to get and share Lionel Messi for the years to come.
But is this true?
There is no news not saying Lionel Messi's future is the 2023 summer transfer window's biggest telenovela. Despite being in the promotional photos of the PSG 2023-24 home jersey, everybody knows the chances of seeing the Argentine star actually wearing that shirt next season are close to none.