By Miguel Rapetti
Jun 18, 2024, 00:38 AM EDT
It seemed that the millionaire offer that the Arab club Al-Hilal made to Lionel Messi had remained in the past, that on that occasion different media had valued it at $600 million dollars, but now the president of the Arab team himself confirmed the real amount who bid for the Argentine superstar.
According to new comments from the owner of Al-Hilal, Messi would have become the athlete with the best contract in the history of sports with earnings of $1,502 million dollars but he preferred his family over money, when making the decision to emigrate to North America with the MLS.
“We contacted Messi at the end of his contract in Paris. We presented him with an offer of 1.4 billion euros ($1.502 million dollars), but the player refused because his family wanted America. He rejected such a big offer for the sake of his family despite convincing them. However, he did not hesitate to reject it because family is more important than money,” said the president.
This offer would have been made in the month of June 2023, just weeks before Inter Miami announced the arrival of the Argentine, who ultimately brought the first title in the team’s history with the Leagues Cup that they won in mid-August of last year.
Although Messi did not choose to take the millionaire figure, his salary in the MLS still positions him as the highest paid in all of American soccer, with a base salary of $10,400,000 dollars. However, he would have an annual compensation of $20,446,667 dollars which would raise his salary considerably.
Likewise, the more than $30 million dollars that Messi receives for his salary with Inter Miami does not include agreements or advertising contracts such as the one he has with Apple TV and television rights, which also leave him a succulent amount.
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