Lionel Messi set to lure yet another ex-Barcelona teammate to Inter Miami

Stuart Telford

• 16 Oct 2023 22:15 BST
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi already has former Barcelona colleagues Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Tata Martino for company at Inter Miami, and more could be set to follow him to Florida according to reports in Spain.

Messi has made an instant impact since arriving at the David Beckham-backed franchise on a free from Paris Saint-Germain, hitting 11 goals and five assists in 13 games to fire his new employers to the inaugural Leagues Cup.

But a hamstring injury cost him playing time recently, and Inter slipped out of MLS Playoff contention as a result, which means Messi won't have any competitive football to play until January.

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He has been linked with a return to Barcelona on loan - akin to what Beckham once did with AC Milan when still an L.A. galaxy player - but it appears he is more interested in playing agent for Inter than returning to Camp Nou.

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) June 10, 2022

Strong reference from Messi

"Sergi Roberto continues to show great professionalism despite his limited role at Barcelona, but he already sees a future in the United States on the horizon," reports Mundo Deportivo's Fernando Polo.

"The referenced that have been coming to Sergi Roberto from the MLS are very good. Not only from Leo Messi, [but] Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Riqui Puig, the most recent [former Barca player] to arrive in America."

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Sergi Roberto is a versatile player able to play at right-back or in midfield but he has fallen behind Joao Cancelo in the pecking order for the former position this season, while the latter is packed with Ilkay Gundogan joining Gavi, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and others this summer.

He is valued at €4.2 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, having once boasted an ETV of €25.2m, but Inter won't have to pay anything like that amount with the 11-time Spain international out of contract at the end of the season.