Cuban-American billionaire Jorge Mas, owner of Inter Miami FC, has revealed the salary that Argentine star Lionel Messi will receive with the team as well as the scenes of the completion of the deal.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Mas said, "Messi's salary will be between 50 to 60 million euros per year," a figure that is far from the offer that Saudi Al Hilal reportedly made to the Argentine star, which amounted to 400 million euros per year.
"THE AGREEMENT STIPULATES THAT AFTER RETIREMENT, MESSI WILL RECEIVE A STAKE IN THE OWNERSHIP OF THE CLUB AND WILL ALSO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL FUNDS FROM THE TELEVISION REVENUES OWNED BY APPLE TV AND A SHARE OF ADIDAS SHIRT SALES," MAS SAID.
🗣Jorge Mas (Inter Miami President):
"The signing of Leo Messi can turn the MLS into one of the top two or three leagues in the world" pic.twitter.com/zUG2QK8kX8
— PSG Chief (@psg_chief) July 2, 2023
Mas, 60, admitted that Inter Miami's attempts to sign the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner began almost 7 years ago.
"We started thinking about how to contract him in 2019. Messi can make MLS the second or third championship in the world."
"Messi's signing for Inter Miami is very similar to the two biggest sporting events in U.S. history, namely the joining of Brazilian legend Pele to New York Cosmos (1975) and the transfer of Englishman David Beckham to LA Galaxy (2007)."
"In the last 18 months, negotiations have been intense. We had many meetings with Jorge Messi (Leo's father and agent), Beckham only talked to Messi about football, I didn't want to put pressure on him."
"I watched all of Argentina's matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for Messi, and in fact Apple's contract was very important to us and helped us complete the deal."
Messi himself announced the decision to move to Inter Miami on June 8, 2023 after the end of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, for which he played two seasons.
Before making this decision, Messi had 4 options to continue his football career, between renewing the Parisian team, returning to Barcelona, accepting the offer of Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, and finally leaving for the United States and defending the colors of Inter Miami.
Jorge Mas chairs the board of directors of MasTec, a Miami-based infrastructure engineering and construction company and is the largest shareholder, with a net worth of $ 1.4 billion, according to figures from Forbes magazine, which specializes in counting wealth and monitoring the growth of financial institutions and companies around the world.