Messi Needs A New League To Maintain His Appetite For Football – Terry Phelan

Inter Miami star Lionel Messi should leave MLS before the 2026 World Cup, Terry Phelan has said. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, if Messi wants to be in top form ahead of the 2026 World Cup, he’ll have to leave the MLS for a league that can challenge him to be better despite his age.

Phelan added that Lionel needs a new league to maintain his appetite for football.

His words, “That’s the $100 million question isn’t it. I think David Beckham has done a wonderful job at Miami. He’s built a club with the support around him and a support network. I think he had this vision of getting some of the best players in the world – the Barcelona players have been thrown in there.

Are we looking at Messi looking at the World Cup and going ‘I need to play in a better competition because I need to be in form for the World Cup next year?’ Saudi Arabia? He doesn’t need the money to go and play there. We know the Saudi teams did well [at the Club World Cup], they beat Manchester City, won one or two games, but that’s not the be all and end all.

With Messi, if he really wants to get that appetite, I think he needs to go somewhere that he’s going to get better competition for himself. It’s too easy. You look at his stats, you look at videos, it’s like PlayStation for him at the moment. It’s not healthy.

He’s gone over there, shirts have been sold, revenue has been built, Miami can go and build a big new stadium. They will always be there or thereabouts, but he has got to think about what he’s going to do with the World Cup next year if he is going to play with Argentina.”

WOW.

Lionel Andrés Messi, also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record seven Ballon d’Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 he was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team.

Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 35 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and the UEFA Champions League four times.

With his country, he won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (eight), and most assists in La Liga (192) and the Copa América (17).

He also has the most international goals by a South American male (103). Messi has scored over 800 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club (672).