For most soccer fans out there, Lionel Messi is the biggest superstar that has ever played the sport. Evidently, it was huge news when Messi announced his departure from Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi agreed to join Inter Miami to bring his talent to MLS. It was reported that prior to signing a deal with the MLS side, Leo was offered a whopping $1.6 billion over three years by the Saudi Arabia side, Al-Hilal. Although the seven-time Ballon D’Or winner rejected the deal, he could have made more money in three years than LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo have made in their entire careers combined.
No, we are not kidding about it. Let’s take a look at the math to put things into perspective.
LeBron James Total Career Earnings: $431,859,107 (20 Seasons)
Kevin Durant Total Career Earnings: $350,297,591 (16 Seasons)
Stephen Curry Total Career Earnings: $302,806,362 (14 seasons)
Giannis Antetokounmpo Total Career Earnings: $188,837,362 (10 seasons)
Adding each NBA superstar’s total career earnings, we get $1,273,800,422 over 60 seasons, which is roughly $1.28 billion.
Messi rejected the offer from the Saudi Arabian side, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to earn a huge amount of money while playing for Inter Miami.
According to the Miami Herald, Messi has agreed to two-and-a-half year contract with a player option year for 2026. He will be making somewhere around $125 million and $150 million over the course of his contract.
But that’s not even the good part. Messi also has equity in the team alongside profit-sharing agreements with Apple and Adidas. Apple is MLS’ official broadcast partner, while Adidas is among the league’s biggest sponsors.
In the longer run, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner may end up netting an amount close to what he was being offered to play in Saudi Arabia.
Kevin Durant And Giannis Antetokounmpo Welcomed Lionel Messi To The MLS
Lionel Messi’s move to the MLS could be the push that the top soccer league in the United States to make the sport appealing to the audience. After all, who’s better to do that job than the best player in soccer history?
Following the news of Leo’s arrival at the MLS, Giannis Antetokounmp and Kevin Durant expressed their excitement via Twitter.
“Welcome to the MLS Messi!! See you at Nashville,” Antetokounmpo tweeted.
Welcome to the MLS Messi!! See you at Nashville🔥🚀
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) June 7, 2023
“Welcome, Messi. Let’s get it @mls @PhilaUnion,” Durant wrote in his tweet.
Welcome, Messi. Let’s get it @mls @PhilaUnion
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 7, 2023
It’s great to see NBA superstars being excited about Messi’s arrival. Many big-name superstars in the league are aware of Messi’s stardom, including LeBron James. LeBron crowned Leo as the greatest soccer player with one emoji in 2022.
Messi is expected to make his debut for Inter Miami on July 07, 2023. Fans can definitely expect several NBA superstars to be in attendance.
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