Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has expressed his desire to feature in his side’s final match of the season against Charlotte this Saturday.
The 36-year-old did not play in Miami’s 2-2 draw with Charlotte on Wednesday evening.
Messi was in the stands for the game, having returned from international duty with Argentina. He scored two goals for his country in their 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Peru.
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“I’ll play the game that is left now,” said Messi, who played all 90 minutes of Tuesday’s match for Argentina.
Saturday’s match against Charlotte will be Miami’s final fixture of the season after failing to make the play-offs.
Miami coach Tata Martino said earlier this week that Messi would need to be assessed before deciding whether he is ready to play against Charlotte.
Following Wednesday’s draw, Martino stuck to that approach and did not commit to his captain playing at the weekend.
He said: “Tomorrow we’ll talk with him, but the most important thing here is the 90 minutes that were played… that he felt well, and he was confident and not worried about his injury.
“We’ll talk again to see if he’s ready to play again.”
Messi played 35 minutes against Cincinnati in his last appearance for Miami, having missed his side’s previous three matches with a muscle injury.
The Athletic reported on Wednesday that Messi is officially the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer history.
Messi will make $20,446,667 (£16.86m) in guaranteed compensation in 2023, with a base salary of $12m (£9.89m), according to the MLS Players Association in its traditional second salary release of the season. Lorenzo Insigne, Toronto FC’s Italian star, is the next-highest earner at $15.4m (£12.7m) in guaranteed compensation, which is also the second-highest salary in MLS history.
The Athletic previously reported that Messi would make “in the twenties” of millions per year, but that the number would fluctuate depending on his performance triggers. Messi reportedly earned €41million (£35.64m) net after taxes with Paris Saint-Germain.
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