WHAT HAPPENED
There has been various levels of speculation in recent days about the possibility of Lionel Messi leaving MLS at the end of his contract, even though Inter Miami are confident that they will be able to extend his deal.
Former MLS and USMNT star Herculez Gomez said, even if the odds are low against a departure, Messi leaving Miami would ring alarm bells for the league.
"House of cards crumbling down," Gomez said on the Futbol Americas podcast. "Devastating for MLS, which has all the chips in on Lionel Messi. You made him the highest paid player in the history of MLS, you gave him MLS season pass subscription shares, you gave him future stock in Inter Miami. You essentially brought him in as an owner so it would be a devastating blow for your biggest, marquee player - that you ever have, that you may ever have."
Gomez suggested the speculation could be an attempted power-play by Messi in order to get the league to change their spending and roster rules going forward.
"But if what if this is a power play?" he said. "What if this is Messi saying 'It's not just about the money for me because what I just did at this Club World Cup, what I just experienced at this Club World Cup doesn't satisfy me. I want to win, I want to make sure where I am isn't a situation where I'm being worse of for it.'
"We already know he's basically an owner in MLS, what if this is his power play of enacting change? And by change I mean the mechanisms, the spend and directly everything around him. I'm sure going out the way he did against PSG didn't sit well with him and he knows that he, and the other nearing 40 players on his team, were embarrassed, and he wants more."
WHAT KASEY KELLER SAID
Former USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller suggested that Messi might be contemplating a move to improve himself.
"Maybe he feels because of as much power as he has," he said, "that maybe he feels that he takes advantage of it. That if he was somewhere else he wouldn't be able to take advantage of it because they haven't given him that right to do so."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Lionel Messi's supposed consideration of leaving comes after Inter Miami's disappointing performance in the Club World Cup. As per the BBC, Miami are the front-runners to keep Messi in the MLS and there is a new contract in negotiations as well.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Following their exit from the Club World Cup, Miami and Messi will face CF Montreal on July 5 at the Stadium Saputo in Montreal.
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