On December 20, Inter Miami announced that it had officially transferred star striker Leonardo Campana to the New England Revolution for a fee of $2.5 million. At the same time, Neymar spoke out about the possibility of reuniting with Messi.
Striker Leonardo Campana, 24 years old, from Ecuador, was once the number 1 striker of Club Inter Miami. But since David Beckham’s team, as president and co-owner, recruited the famous player Messi, things have been changing little by little. Campana only plays a reserve role, and is also surpassed by Messi in the record of scoring the most goals in the history of the team, 32 goals in 100 games versus 34 goals in only 39 games, respectively.
Campana’s place for the entire 2024 season will be filled by veteran striker Luis Suarez, a close friend of Messi. This Uruguayan player signed a contract extension for another season in 2025, and currently ranks fourth on Inter Miami’s top scorers list, with 25 goals in 37 games, behind only Gonzalo Higuain (29 goals scored), and also lost 7 goals to coach Campana.
Inter Miami aims to comprehensively improve its attack with top-level stars and is linked to the famous player Messi, after appointing a new coach, Mr. Javier Mascherano, who is also a familiar figure to the famous 37-year-old Argentine player.
Recently, Inter Miami also sold young star Diego Gomez to English Premier League club Brighton for a team-record $18 million. In addition, David Beckham’s team also parted ways with 7 other players when their contracts expired or their loan periods ended.
The almost comprehensive change of force helps Inter Miami to significantly increase transfer costs and expand the salary fund, along with the designated player quotas as prescribed by the MLS (American professional soccer league), to guide itself towards more important goals of recruiting top stars. One of them is star Neymar, who plays for Al Hilal Club of the Saudi Pro League (Saudi Arabia).
Neymar recently spoke officially about the possibility of joining Inter Miami to reunite with Messi and Suarez, saying: “Until now I am still an Al Hilal player. But football is always full of things. Suarez is my best friend. And Messi is my idol and my best friend. Messi is the person every player wants to play with, because he makes everything easier.
I don’t know what will happen. In the short term, I want to play in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with Al Hilal Club. This tournament is very important for the club. Obviously, the World Cup is the goal of all players. I played three World Cups with the Brazilian national team and I want to return soon for the fourth World Cup.”
Neymar has a contract with Al Hilal until June 2025. Recently, the Saudi Arabian team intended to part ways with this 32-year-old striker from the winter transfer market which will open on January 1, 2025 in order to recover costs and reduce huge salaries (almost VND 200 million USD/year, including wages and other expenses).
So far, Neymar has only played 7 games for Al Hilal, scoring 1 goal and providing 3 assists since August 2023. Otherwise, this Brazilian player is barely recovering from an injury.
Billionaire Jorge Mas and David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami, recently revealed their plans to sign Neymar when the opportunity presents itself. However, so far the negotiations remain secret. Neymar also has another option: returning to Brazil’s Santos Club.
