Lionel Messi Next Club Odds: An iconic return to Barcelona on the cards

Lionel Messi looks to be calling it a day on his PSG career and is seeking new opportunities in the football world.

Transfer rumours have been flying about everywhere after the news of Messi’s two-week suspension from the PSG squad following his Saudi Arabia trip.

With transfer rumours come betting opportunities and we’ve taken it upon ourselves to look through the betting market for Lionel Messi’s next club and see what the market suggests.

Inter Miami

Inter Miami have been linked with Messi a number of times in the past but it looks like there could very well be some legs to it this time. The rumoured plan is for Inter Miami to buy Messi and then loan him out to Barcelona for a season. This allows Messi to get that dream homecoming and compete in Europe for one more season and then safely transition to the MLS.

The Athletic are now reporting that Messi has ruled out Saudi Arabia and is deciding between Inter Miami and Barcelona. They have also said that Messi's package includes multiple perks such as a percentage of profits from AppleTV subscribers that join to watch the MLS, a percentage of any increase in Adidas' profits due to his MLS transfer and the option of buying an MLS club when he retires.

It's a serious deal to be offering a player and not only would it be a very lucrative deal for him, it could potentially set him up for life after football. Following these rumours, Inter Miami are now the odds-on favourite to sign Lionel Messi at 17/20.

Barcelona

Barcelona are definitely not shy in the transfer market these days and even though many of us think they’re out of funds, they always seem to create some cash out of thin air. This time they’ll be looking to spend their magic money on bringing back the greatest Barcelona player ever.

Messi is far from finished, he’s still on top of the world and at the age of 35 he still doesn’t look like slowing down.

It was clear as day that Messi didn’t want to leave Barcelona in the first place, scenes of him crying as he left his house in Spain made that apparent and a dream return could well and truly be on the cards according to the bookmakers.

Betting sites are making Messi 6/4 to sign for Barcelona in the upcoming window which is now the second favourite option.

A dream homecoming for Messi would excite most of the football world and even if PSG are a top team, it’s much more fun to have Messi in those famous Barcelona colours. Just imagine a team with Messi and Lewandowski! 

Barcelona have expressed their interest in resigning him and though they might have to get a few players off the books to accommodate him, they’ll try everything they can to bring him ‘home’. If the reports are anything to go off, they are in pole position to sign the Argentinian but need clearance from FFP to make any moves and open the bidding.

Any Saudi club

Recently Messi was suspended at PSG due to a two-week trip to Saudi Arabia, reports are saying that he was in there for a commercial and didn’t have permission from PSG thus the two-week ban.

Was he there for just a commercial? Well, we’ll never fully know, but there’s been speculation about his future in the Saudia Pro League if he is to leave PSG.

We’ve already seen clubs like Al Nassr roll out the red carpet for Cristiano Ronaldo and give him an absurd amount of money to play for the club, the same could definitely happen with Messi.

The papers are saying that he has been offered a £320m-a-year move to Saudi Arabia and they are probably the league that is going to be offering him a sum that big but there are also fresh reports of Messi wanting to turn down Saudi Arabia to carry on competing in Europe.

No club is yet to be confirmed but Al Hilal have been mentioned and Fabrizio Romano has reported that they have offered him a package close to £800,000 over two years.

It’d be a shame for a lot of football fans to see Messi leave Europe but the Ronaldo-Messi rivalry could carry on abroad!

Manchester City

Manchester City are probably the best team in the world at the moment.

It’s hard to argue against that and if they add Messi onto the wing with Haaland in the middle, it’s going to be a tough time for other clubs if they plan on competing against them.

Messi has relished playing under Pep Guardiola and the feelings between them are mutual with the City boss always being full of praise for the Argentinian.

The duo won everything there is to win at Barcelona and most of us would be fairly confident in saying that they’d do the same in Manchester.

Man City could definitely afford his wages with their wealthy owners, but in all fairness to them, they have been reluctant to offer huge contracts to some of football’s biggest stars.

Pep has said in the past they can’t afford players like that and whilst he might be telling a lie there, it seems as though City aren’t very interested in signing Messi.

He’s 20/1 to sign for them for a reason and whilst the links are there, I can’t see him making the move to the Premier League