08 March 2023 , 20:04
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Jamie Carragher has predicted Lionel Messi will play his last Champions League game against Bayern Munich - before quickly adding "this season".
Argentine superstar Messi has been heavily linked to a move to MLS and is reportedly in talks with both current club Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami over his future.
The ex-Barcelona maestro is out of contract at PSG at the end of this season. The 35-year-old is reportedly on £22million a year at the Ligue 1 giants - with worries his and Kylian Mbappe's wages could put PSG in breach of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, and would put them at risk of sanctions.
That would play into MLS and Inter Miami's hands, and Jamie Carragher's foreboding message on CBS' Champions League coverage will only add to the rumours that Messi is approaching the end of his time in European football.
Carragher said: "This could be the last time we see Lionel Messi play in the Champions League." Which got a loud "wow" from Thierry Henry.
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But the former Liverpool defender quickly added an extra bit on the end of his statement, by saying: "This will be the last time we see Lionel Messi play in the Champions League this season. I think Bayern Munich will go through."
MLS are desperate to get Messi over to the States, with the signing likely to make a huge explosion in their brand and the global opinion of the league. In fact, they are so keen to have him make a splash like David Beckham did a generation ago that league commissioner Don Garber is willing to compensate Messi's family.
Lionel Messi is out of contract this summer (AFP via Getty Images)"You're dealing with perhaps the most special player in the history of the game. So when there are rumours of him connected to Miami, that's great,' Garber told The Athletic.
"And if it could happen, it would be terrific for MLS, it would be terrific for Messi and his family, and like everything with us, we try to run every opportunity down. I can't give any more details than that because we don't have them.'
"We're gonna have to structure a deal that's going to compensate him in ways that he and his family expect. What that is? Honestly, we don't know today, but he's probably not going to be a [targeted allocation money] player."
Manchester United legend, and Inter Miami manager Phil Neville recently had his say on a potential Messi arrival in Florida. "I think this would be probably the biggest signing in history," he told the Athletic. "I can't think of another star of that magnitude to come from a major footballing country to this place. This is maybe similar [to Beckham's arrival], but maybe even bigger.
"I think you're talking about one of the greatest footballers of all time. When you talk about Miami, we have to be in for players like that, you know?"
"Things will be different. The trees might have to be bigger [around the training ground]. The security might have to be tighter. The walk the players have today over to that stadium, that might have to be different. The travel might be different. The hotels we stay in might have to be different. "But really that might be what we're aspiring to be like anyway. It's exciting, but I think it'd be a massive challenge."