Revealed: Why Barcelona’s summer offer to Lionel Messi ‘really worried’ Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham

• Barcelona offer worried Beckham
• Messi left Barca in 2021
• Messi joined Miami instead of returning to Barca

WHAT HAPPENED? Messi joined MLS outfit Inter Miami over the summer after his unhappy two-year stint at Paris Saint-Germain came to an end. However, Miami co-owner and former Real Madrid star Beckham has admitted he was worried about Messi’s former club Barcelona hijacking the move.

WHAT THEY SAID: “We made the offer [to Lionel], but he had offers from Saudi [Arabia], he’d had offers to go back to Barcelona and the Barcelona one really worried me because it pulls on the heartstrings,” Beckham said during a recent episode of The Overlap. “He never really got to say a proper goodbye, but then it was down to him to decide.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Although Messi is reportedly earning more than $60 million per season in Miami, Beckham said money was not the main factor in the move. “We always wanted him [Messi] to decide based on wanting to live there with his family, wanting to still win and play football in the way he plays it, but we wanted him to announce it in his way,” Beckham said. “He literally was sat in a hotel room with his mate filming and saying that he’s coming to Miami. So, for us, it was unbelievable, I was very emotional about it because it’s taken a lot of hard work to get here.”

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WHAT NEXT FOR MESSI?? After scoring 10 goals in his first seven appearances for his new club, Messi endured an injury-hit September during which he missed four MLS matches with a muscle injury. The full extent of his injury -and a potential return date – has not been disclosed.