Gareth Bale has given serial winner Lionel Messi an honest insight into the culture of the MLS ahead of the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner's proposed move to Inter Miami this summer.
The 35-year-old picked Inter Miami over the riches offered by Saudi Arabia and he also brought an end to speculation of a fairytale return to Barcelona, as he was not prepared to wait on the financials to be ironed out. Instead, Messi will earn $50 million to $60m per year, and he will also get a percentage of Inter Miami shirt sales via Adidas and a percentage of all subscriptions to the MLS Season Pass from Apple TV.
However, Messi, who has won an astonishing 43 team trophies in his dazzling career to go alongside the many individual awards for his excellence, has been warned that losing is more accepted in the MLS with Bale telling him to expect a more relaxed football culture.
"It is a lot more chilled," Bale told BT Sport. "If you lose at Real Madrid, it is like the world has ended. You are crucified. You feel down. You go home and you’re not happy. They accept losing a bit more. There is no consequence. You can’t get relegated over there. When you lose a game you go on to the next one. They accept losing a lot better over there."
Bale, who spent some time at LAFC, helped the MLS franchise to win the MLS Cup last season before his retirement following Wales' early exit from the World Cup in Qatar The 33-year-old says MLS teams know how to celebrate and that his old Barca rival Messi will enjoy himself.
"They know how to lose but they celebrate every win like you have won the championship," Bale added. "He will definitely enjoy it.”
Bale's warning is unlikely to bother Messi, though, with the football icon stating that the move will give him "peace of mind". He will, however, have to try and help Inter Miami climb off the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with the team winning just five of their 17 games played so far in the MLS.
Messi said when he joined Miami: "I had offers from other European teams but I didn’t even evaluate them because my idea was to go to Barcelona and if the Barcelona thing didn’t come out, analyzing it, then leaving European football and much more after winning the World Cup, which was what I needed to complete my career on this side and living the United States League in a different way and enjoying day to day much more but with the same responsibility of wanting to win and always doing things well but with more peace of mind."
