TIME magazine awarded Argentine star Lionel Messi the title of Sports Personality of the Year for 2023, concluding the American club “Inter Miami” star of the year with a new award after winning the Ballon d’Or award weeks ago.
In a dialogue with Time magazine, the player spoke about his decision to play in the NFL, saying: “The truth is that fortunately, I had many options on the table that were interesting, that I had to analyze and think about, and even evaluate with my family, before making the final decision to come to Miami.”
“My first option was to return to Barcelona, but that wasn’t possible, I tried to come back and it didn’t happen.”
“It’s also true that later I was thinking a lot about going to the Saudi League, where I know the country and they created a very strong competition that could become an important league in the near future,” Messi said. “As an ambassador for tourism in the country, it was this destination that attracted me, especially because I enjoyed everything I visited, because of how football is growing in the country and because of their efforts to create a major competition.”
In the end, he told Time magazine: “It was Saudi Arabia or the NFL, and both options seemed very interesting to me.”
Messi eventually opted to join US club Inter Miami, in a deal estimated at $20 million a year that the club will pay him, in addition to giving him an ownership stake in the team upon retirement, and a percentage of the revenues received by the league’s media partner, Apple.
