Liverpool will not be immediately impacted by Lionel Messi moving to MLS but it is a deal for FSG to keep an eye on nonetheless as football continues to evolve.
Xherdan Shaqiri will almost certainly not be the highest-paid player in MLS for much longer. The former Liverpool man, now at Chicago Fire, earns $8.2m (£6.8m/€7.6m) per year, but will soon be joined by Lionel Messi, who will join Inter Miami.
While Messi’s exact wage is not yet known, it cannot be underplayed just how big of a coup it is for the US league to entice arguably the world’s best player, who, at 35, still has plenty to give
Aside from his salary, The Athletic reports that ‘MLS and Apple have discussed offering Messi a share of the revenue generated by new subscribers to MLS Season Pass, the league’s streaming package on Apple TV+’.
Adidas is also getting involved, with the same report claiming that Messi will get a share of the profits that his arrival in the US generates. The German company has been involved in MLS since it began in 1996.
Apple and MLS signed a 10-year agreement worth $2.5bn (£2.0bn/€2.3bn) earlier in the year and the league is growing. Messi’s arrival will accelerate that faster than anything before — more than Steven Gerrard, David Beckham or anyone else.
How does this impact Liverpool? Directly, not much, at least not immediately. But in the longer term, MLS is set to grow to a level that could make it a pool to keep even more of an eye on for emerging talents.
It is also interesting that Messi is set to take a portion of the money that he generates. Across the wider footballing world, is it that unrealistic to think that others would want to
In
this age, players are followed (by younger fans, in particular) like clubs in some quarters, with big names drawing big attention. Last weekend, for example, PSG’s Instagram account lost around 600,000 followers when it emerged that Messi was leaving.
That is not the only barometer of impact, of course, but it is one look at part of the reason that Messi was taken to Paris in the first place. It is the same reason that the Saudi Arabian league is looking at a variety of players and already has Cristiano Ronaldo.
The argument, up until this point, has always been that fans would not attend matches as much if every game was available on television, but the money might ultimately talk when it comes to how much revenue could be generated.
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