But I think we as the fans have to cope with the fact that at some point all these great soccer players are planning their time after their career and Messi going to Inter Miami isn't because his dream is to win the MLS. At this stage of his career he is building the pathways for marketing and commercial angles for his future. It wouldn't come as a surprise if he plays for Inter Miami for a while now and then switches over to Saudi Arabia as well. The whole world knows him already and now it is about strengthening ties with his fanbases around the world. That would be my assessment of what he is doing next.
Every era will surely end and new seeds will appear who will decorate the world of football, so there's no need to be surprised anymore, we have passed many star players who have come and gone according to the era. Messi is indeed meritorious because he has given his own color to his achievements which will be very difficult for any player to match. It has taken a long time for new players to have a title and we are still looking forward to a new GOAT in European competition. Messi is a person who really cares about his family so when he decided to join Inter Miami it was because his wife really wanted to live in America. It's not a matter of money or not, even though Saudi Arabia's various offers promise big salaries, he still doesn't do it because it's for the sake of family comfort. That's what I heard during the interview he held after the official announcement of joining Inter Miami.
I am quite hesitant to believe any reason provided by the media why a player did this or that. I doubt that we would know whether it was for his wife or because of a giant contract he signed with Inter that contains more secret clauses than we could ever think of. It actually doesn't matter why he went there. Many thought that he can't reject the offer from Saudi Arabia and I also thought that 0.5 billion per year is too much to say no, but he did it. Yet he is gone from European competitions and that means an end to an unbelievable era that we are probably not going to see again very soon.