crazy! It appears that Messi rejected the $1.4 billion offer

The football world was glued to Paris in the summer of 2023.

After Lionel Messi's departure from Paris Saint-Germain became a done deal, millions of fans were left wondering about the future of the eight-time World Cup footballer.

From a return to the heart of FC Barcelona to a move to the thriving Saudi Professional League – there has been a lot of speculation about the next career stage for 'La Pulga'. And the rest is history – Messi signed with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer and created a breakthrough there. Everything could have turned out very differently, as an interview with Al Hilal president Anmar Al Hili made clear.

“I made him an offer of 1.4 billion.”

The current Saudi champions' coach, who has several prominent international footballers under contracts such as Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and superstar Neymar, described in an interview with NIBC what an amazing offer his club “La Pulga” made at the time.

“We made him an offer worth 1.4 billion euros,” Al-Hili revealed. As is known, the 36-year-old 2022 world champion did not ultimately succumb to the immoral offer. The reasons for this were family: “He refused because his family wanted to go to America.”

The refusal “surprised” Al-Hili and his club because “a player can refuse such a huge offer in favor of his family. We respect that because family is more important than money.”

In Miami, where Messi is also not doing badly financially with an annual salary of between 50 and 60 million euros, the talented striker has a contract until the end of 2025.

Alaba tops the top three! Kickers with the most club titles