Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal offered Messi a mind-boggling $1 Billion offer for a two-year contract (4x Ronaldo's payday.) Surprisingly, Messi turned down this offer to join American football club Inter Miami.
Why did Messi turn down a billion dollars?
What role did Apple and Adidas play in his transfer?
And how will it benefit him long term?
We will answer all your questions in this article
"Messi's wife refuses to live in Saudi Arabia," "Messi is scared of facing Ronaldo and Benzema." All these rumors are rubbish. The truth is, Messi accepted the American offer because it provides him with more money, but in a different way.
Al-Hilal did make a cash offer of a billion dollars, however, the American offer is more lucrative long term.
Apple
One thing you should know is that Apple is planning to make big acquisitions in the world of sports. They already signed a 10-year deal with the MLS league worth 2.5 Billion dollars. The best part about this is, Messi will get a percentage off every new Apple TV+ subscriber post his joining the American League.
Adidas
As you probably already know, Adidas has been sponsoring Messi for a very long time. In fact, they have a lifetime deal that pays the Argentinian legend $25 million per year. Thanks to the new transfer to Miami, Messi's deal with Adidas just got a whole lot sweeter. Messi will receive a percentage of the profits made from any increase in sales of Adidas products post his transfer to Miami.
MLS Ownership
To top it all off, according to The Athletic, Messi will receive a special offer to buy an American football club (possibly the Las Vegas Lights FC.) This is a similar deal to the one David Beckham received when he moved to the US in 2008, where he was offered to buy InterMiami for the low price of $25 million, a deal that made Bekham extremely wealthy.
Today, InterMiami is worth $800 million, which means he x32 his initial investment. And with the arrival of Messi, it is estimated that the club will be worth around $1.5 billion. Basically, Beckham hit the jackpot and Messi is looking to do the same.
Add that to the fact that Messi's salary is $130-$150 million annually (20% higher than Benzima's and only 30% lower than Ronaldo's) and you can see why Messi accepted InterMiami's offer.
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