Lionel Messi linked with return to Barcelona; Al Hilal, Inter Miami also interested

Argentine football star Lionel Messi’s next possible destination is the talk of the town among the footballing fraternity. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) head coach had said last week that PSG’s Ligue 1 match against Clermont Foot would be Messi’s last match for the club. Messi, however, endured an unceremonious exit from PSG after he was booed by some of the club;s fans ahead of the game against Clermont Foot. Following his PSG exit, Messi is now a free agent, and there are a lot of speculations as to where his next destination will be. Jorge Messi meets with Barcelona president Joan Laporta One of the possible next destinations for the FIFA World Cup winner is his former club FC Barcelona. Messi had left Barcelona in 2021 amidst financial issues at the club, and it was then when he joined PSG on a two-year contract. And now, after making his PSG exit official, one of Messi’s next clubs is FC Barcelona. According to ESPN, Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi met with Barcelona president Joan Laporta in Laporta’s house, after which Jorge said that his son would ‘love to return to Barcelona’. “Of course, he [Messi] would love to return to Barcelona. I would like it too. We will see,” said Jorge. When Jorge was asked if he spoke with Laporta on how Barcelona could financially secure Messi’s deal, Jorge said there was nothing concrete. “We spoke the other day, but there’s nothing concrete,” he had said. Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez had on 2 June said that Messi would take a decision “next week” and that the “doors were open” for the 35-year-old’s potential return. In May, Laporta had also said that Barcelona would do “everything possible” to sign the Argentine superstar. Al Hilal officials in Paris to secure Messi deal At the same time, officials of Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal Football Club have flown to Paris to potentially secure Lionel Messi’s signing, news agency AFP reported on Monday. With Saudi Arabia emerging as a footballing powerhouse with Cristiano Ronaldo already playing for Al Nassr, the interest of the clubs there to seal the World Cup champion is also gradually rising. According to AFP, the Saudi Arabian delegation hopes to meet Jorge Messi and finalise a deal quickly. “There is a Saudi delegation in Paris with one goal: to return with Messi official approval to the Saudi offer,” a source with close contact to the club said. “If everything goes well, Messi will sign his new contract and Al-Hilal will announce it before the weekend.” Added the source. Inter Miami links Lionel Messi has also been heavily linked with a move to the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States, with Inter Miami entering the race to sign. Inter Miami had sacked coach Phil Neville only last week, and has replaced him with an Argentina manager, Gerardo Martino. Spanish media outlet Marca recently reported that with Martino as the Inter Miami head coach now, that would help them lure Messi to the club. However, Inter Miami sporting director Chris Henderson declined to comment on the Messi transfer speculation. “I’m not going to get into specifics about players that are not on our roster,” he had said on 3 June. “I’m here today to talk about Javi Morales to talk about our team. You know there is a transfer window opening but we wanted we want to focus on tomorrow night (against D.C. United), the Open Cup quarterfinals and and the next game… so it’s a busy period for us and that’s our focus at the moment,” Henderson added. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.