Messi confirms he plans to play for Beckham's Inter Miami

Lionel Messi intends to join Major Soccer League side Inter Miami as a free agent, the Argentina forward said on Wednesday after he opted not to renew his contract with French side Paris St Germain.

"I made the decision that I'm going to go to Miami. I still haven't closed it 100%," Messi said.

"I'm still missing a few things, but we decided to go ahead."

The 35-year-old Argentine will play outside Europe for the first time since he joined Barca's academy at the age of 13 and became the Spanish club's all-time record goalscorer with 672 goals.

Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in December and has earned a record seven Ballon d'Or awards, won the Ligue 1 title in his two seasons with PSG as well as the French Super Cup in 2022.

The forward was also linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal after he received a formal offer.

The Gulf country has been looking to bring the game's biggest players to its league and was successful in convincing Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo to join Al Nassr soon after the World Cup. French striker Karim Benzema joined Al Ittihad this week.

Inter Miami are co-owned by former England captain David Beckham, who was one of the first major European stars to move to the United States to play in the MLS, winning the MLS Cup twice with Los Angeles Galaxy.