"I love Messi. Messi is Messi." Mohamed Salah said that to ESPN, and right now those words are doing a lot of work for Inter Miami's recruitment chances.
Salah is leaving Liverpool. That's confirmed. At 33, with one of the sharpest goalscoring records in Premier League history behind him, he's walking into a market where every club with ambition — and a big wallet — is paying attention. Inter Miami are firmly on that list, and the Messi connection is no accident.
MLS commissioner Don Garber practically spelled it out last December: "If Salah ever decides to come to Major League Soccer, we will welcome him with open arms. I would say he should approach Leo Messi and Thomas Muller and see how happy they have been." That's not a subtle hint. That's a league using its two biggest stars as a living brochure.
The mutual admiration society
What makes the Miami angle more than just noise is that the rapport between Salah and Messi is genuine, and documented on both sides. When asked to choose between Messi and Maradona, Salah didn't hesitate — "I'll stick with him," he told L'Equipe. Messi has returned the compliment, calling Salah "a special player" and "the best" African player he's seen.
That kind of pre-existing chemistry matters more than people give it credit for. The dressing room dynamics at Inter Miami are already built around Messi's gravity. Bringing in someone who genuinely idolises him rather than just tolerates that dynamic? That's a smoother transition than most high-profile arrivals manage.
Structurally, Miami could make it work. Messi and Rodrigo de Paul are franchise players, but the squad has room to absorb another marquee name — potentially as a replacement for Luis Suarez, who is out of contract. Salah as a Suarez replacement is quite an upgrade on paper.
Saudi Arabia is the real competition
The obstacle isn't Miami's ambition — it's the Saudi Pro League, which has been circling Salah for some time. As a high-profile Muslim athlete, he's exactly the kind of signing the Saudi project is built around. Benzema is already at Al Hilal. Salah could step into the role Cristiano Ronaldo carved out as the league's headline act.
Security concerns around the broader regional conflict reportedly complicate that picture, but the financial pull is substantial and shouldn't be dismissed.
For now, agent Ramy Abbas has shut down the speculation cleanly: "We don't know where Mohamed will play next season. That also means that no one else knows." Hard to argue with that. Whatever Salah decides, the destinations best placed to land him — Miami or Riyadh — are pricing in a player who could still be the best attacker in whatever league he joins. That's not a small call for any club's season outlook.
