Lionel Messi should have protection from referees similar to that of Michael Jordan, according to the coach of an MLS team.
When Messi announced last month that he was leaving PSG and joining Inter Miami, the football world was rocked. The topic of discussion has now changed to how officials will shield one of the game’s best players from forceful challenges.
One unnamed coach told The Athletic: “He should get the [Michael] Jordan treatment. [He] should get every single call.”
According to former Atletico Madrid defender Felipe Luis, Messi received favourable treatment during his time at Barcelona. “He’s protected by the press and by the league,” Luis said. “I believe they don’t want one of their best players of all time to be injured and not play.”
Messi is not the first global superstar to join a MLS club, but according to referee Robert Sibiga, the presence of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner could put extra pressure on refs.
“This is not the level of David Beckham, or Zlatan,” said Sibiga. “This is a different level. As referees, the last thing you want to be is to be seen screwing up the game or allowing players who have way less talent and experience to do something to a player like Lionel Messi.”
Meanwhile, the owner of Inter Miami CF Jorge Mas claimed that it took three years of talks to convince Lionel Messi to join the Major League Soccer team.
Messi, an Argentina 2022 World Cup champion, revealed this month that, following two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, he will sign with Inter Miami as a free agent.
“In 2019 [when Messi was still at Barcelona], we started thinking about how we could bring him,” Mas told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“I spent three years on it, a year-and-a-half [working] very intensely. There were many conversations with [Messi’s father and agent] Jorge. [Inter Miami co-owner] David [Beckham] talked to Leo, only about football issues, because he was a player.”
Messi, 36, had initially considered a return to Barca, the club he had left in 2021 due to its financial crisis, while he also rejected a lucrative deal from Saudi Arabia’s PIF fund to join Al-Hilal.
“I saw it as done at the end of May,” Mas said. “I didn’t want him to feel under pressure. We had spoken in Barcelona, Miami, Rosario, Doha … I spent the whole World Cup in Qatar, watching Argentina.
“The Apple contract was very important to close the deal.”
A four-part docuseries about Messi’s World Cup career, from his first tournament debut in 2006 through his eventual championship in 2022, has just been revealed by MLS broadcast partner Apple for AppleTV+. While on vacation, Messi is anticipated to sign a deal with Inter Miami that runs through December 2025 with an option year in 2026.
Mas stated that Messi will make “between £50 million and $60 million per year.” Mas also reaffirmed his long-standing desire to surround Messi with players he knows, like Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
