Lionel Messi admitted he wanted to return to Barcelona but did not want to relive his traumatic departure from the club, which happened back in 2021. Messi confirmed he will be moving to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami CF on Wednesday.

Messi left Barcelona as a free agent back in 2021 and joined PSG Saint-Germain because the Catalan club could not renew his contract due to the financial regulations of LA Liga. The Argentine captain played for the Parisians for two years after that.

Messi revealed he has taken the decision to join Inter Miami after taking into account his family and future. Furthermore, Messi, who achieved great success at Barcelona, added some people didn’t want to see him back at the club.

“I really wanted to come back,” Messi told Diario Sport after announcing his move to Miami. “But, on the other hand, after having lived through what I lived through, after the exit I had, I didn’t want to go through the same situation again and have to wait to see what was going to happen. I didn’t want to leave my future in the hands of others.

“I wanted to make my own decision for myself and my family. Even though I heard [in the media] that the league had accepted everything and that everything was OK for me to come back, there were still a lot of other things missing.

“I heard that they had to sell players or lower the salaries of players and I didn’t want to go through that, nor be responsible or have anything to do with all that.

“When I had to leave, they also said that LaLiga had accepted everything, but in the end it couldn’t be done. I was afraid that the same thing would happen again and I would have to rush [a decision] like I did then.”

Messi won two back-to-back Ligue 1 titles with PSG but admitted the last two years were tough for him and his family as they didn’t want to come to Paris.

“I had to come to Paris, stay in a hotel for a long time with my family, with my children going to school and still being in the hotel,” Messi said.

“[But] I have just had two years in which things were not great for the family and I didn’t enjoy it. That month was spectacular for me when we won the World Cup, but apart from that, it has been a difficult time for me.”

Messi also had offer from another European club and Saudi Arabia but wanted to stay away from the limelight.