Will Lionel Messi join Barcelona on loan in January? New report reveals La Liga club's plans for winter transfer window
Lionel Messi will reportedly not be joining Barcelona after his ongoing campaign with Inter Miami ends. The Blaugrana are not looking to get the Argentine on loan in the winter, nor is the player thinking of joining another club in the off-season.
As per Mundo Deportivo, no party involved is thinking of a loan move in the winter. The Argentine will be free from club football for four months once the season ends at Inter Miami later this month, as the Herons are out of postseason reckoning.
Reports in Spain last week suggested that Messi was interested in joining Barcelona in the winter. The Argentine was linked with Barca earlier in the summer when his PSG contract ran out.
However, despite interest from both parties, the move did not take place. The La Liga giants wanted him to wait till their finances improved, but the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner wanted to sort his future immediately and moved to Miami instead.
David Beckham on how Inter Miami beat Barcelona for Lionel Messi
David Beckham has revealed that Barcelona and Saudi Arabian club were keen on signing Lionel Messi in the summer. However, the Argentine star decided that he wanted to move to Inter Miami and picked the MLS club.
Beckham said on Stick to Football podcast:
"When I started this journey, ten years ago, announcing that I was starting a team in Miami, my vision was always to bring the best players. I suppose as an owner of a team, you always want to bring in the best players, but the chance of bringing in the best, is difficult and always challenging.
"But then, I sneaked into Lionel Messi's dad's hotel about four years ago in Barcelona for a meeting with him, and, obviously, at that point, we weren't ready to bring him in, and he wasn't ready to come."
He added:
"I turned around to his dad and said, 'we want your son, we want him to come to Miami when he's ready', and if that's a possibility. We continued the conversations, and with my partners, Jorge Mas and Jose (Mas). We just worked on it for about four years.
The Herons co-owner continued:
"When he was at PSG (Paris Saint-Germain), we saw an opportunity and he was either going to go back to Barcelona (or to Miami). But then suddenly, everything aligned, and we were still having the conversations.
"To bring someone like him to the club, we knew it would change the club, and we knew it would change the league and the sport – but it's beyond that."
Lionel Messi suffered his first loss at Inter Miami on Saturday (October 8) night when his side lost 1-0 at home to FC Cincinnati, ending their slim playoff hopes.