What Does Lionel Messi Do Next?! | The Talking Point

Yes, yes. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Football Daily and welcome back to The Talking Point. I have returned home. I'm actually buzzing to be back. I've missed these boys, man. I really have. I've missed everyone. I've missed you guys. I really, really have. Yes, I was at the World Cup. An incredible, incredible experience. I'm sure I would touch upon it later on at some point. But this is The Talking Point and we're going to be talking about one man and one man only, Lionel Messi, the man of the moment. An incredible achievement for himself to go and win the World Cup. But we want to talk about the future for Lionel Messi. What could it be for his club form and international form as well? Because at the moment, we're not too sure. He currently is at PSG. He's into his last season of his contract, but there is supposedly a plus one year, depending on whether the club or player activates it. So guys, let's get into it. Doogie, Lionel Messi, you are him right now. The greatest player in the world. I see much likeness between you and him, to be honest. What are you doing? Well, the goat. I like to see that you've honoured him and come dressed as a sheep as well, which is a lovely touch. There he is. Thank you very much. That took me all of 30 seconds. No, the goat. I think he's, you know, obviously going to be in a fantastic mood. He's on top of the world. His lifetime ambition achieved. Saw the photos in his Instagram this morning of him sleeping alongside the World Cup. What a moment for him. I mean, I can't imagine the pressure for the last 20 years of his life being like, when are you going to win the World Cup? When are you going to win the World Cup? Like you're no longer considered the best there ever was until you get that moment properly. It's now complete. You must just have this immense sense of calm and satisfaction to him. In terms of what he does next. I mean, I don't really see the point of continuing with Argentina, to be totally honest, when you've climbed the mountain and they possibly do need to start, you know, easing in some of those younger forwards around the group like Tara Martinez, you know, had a very poor World Cup. Hopefully he can pick up in the future. Maybe Angel Correa as well, who's been very good at Atletico Madrid for a while. But there are a dearth of really high quality wingers in particular in that squad. It was notable when Di Maria went off and was replaced by Acuna that their level dropped massively. Though Di Maria was clearly battling fitness issues, having played, you know, having not played in the build up to that final as well. In terms of his club form, I think that's really, really interesting because last year was a bit of a disaster for him in Messi's standards at PSG. But he seems so much happier at the club. I think his family are apparently much more settled in Paris. His kids are at the right school. And we don't really, because we are so focused on the stats and the performances, we never really take that into account, like how much of an impact your family's happiness has on a player's success. And it seems like he's now really settled in Paris. So I could see him maybe staying one more year there, but then there is talk of the MLS and other places like that. Yeah, Inter Miami was a team that's been mentioned. Yeah. How are you feeling about it? Obviously, having just won the World Cup, do you think it is time to stay? And actually when he's been speaking to his club, obviously the PSG president has come out and said that we have an agreement to talk about his contract after the World Cup. So they're going to be talking. How are you feeling about that situation? Al-Khalifa has always said that he's happy in Paris. And he said, like he says, he's playing amazing football there right now. I think he's an incredible moment. He obviously has a great relationship with Neymar and various other figures in that side. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to maybe stay for one more year there. I think it would be a devastating shame if he went to the MLS at this point in time. No discredit to the division. I think it's got much better. And you know, you saw how much Higuain enjoyed his time with Inter Miami. I think it'd obviously be an interesting club with David Beckham commercially. It would be a very interesting project. And if that's what he wants to do at the end of his career, to really sort of elevate his profile in the USA, sure, why not? Not that I think that Messi needs any more elevation as an individual. That would be interesting to see at some point. But no, right now, golden ball at the World Cup. In contrary to Dukes, I think he said he wants to stay on for a little bit longer with the national team, just to enjoy being a world champion. I want to continue playing as a champion. I think that's quite cool. I mean, what, the Copa America is in what, two years time? So I can see him doing that, maybe getting honoured a bit more by his fan base. He's clearly super happy with that group of players. And that's kind of the reason why this has been such a sort of emotional moment for him, is that he's really embodied what it means to be an Argentinian player and lead that side, etc. And we've seen the fire in him throughout this tournament, which has been great to see. So yeah, maybe he wants to experience that for a little bit longer. I think another World Cup is definitely, I agree with you in that sense, they should have other players in there by the time that that comes around. But yeah, keep, stay at PSG, I think, for one more year. They've got a good thing going on there, it's not too taxing for him. If he continues how he is, which is quite frankly at the moment ridiculous. We saw how he was at the World Cup, we see how he's been at club form. And he's like that at the end of next season. Do you not think it's a little bit of a waste to then go into Miami or go to the MLS if he's still performing at a rate of 20 goal involvements or more a season? Do you think that's still a waste? Would you not want to see Messi stay in Europe, or do you think at that point he'll be 36, nearly 37, maybe time to commit to a retirement plan? Yeah, I mean, I think if he stays where he is at PSG, I think they've got a great chance of winning the Champions League this year, to be totally honest. I know it might be a little bit difficult in terms of Neymar's coming off an ankle injury, which I did think, you know, he scored a great goal against Croatia in that quarterfinal, but probably didn't have his best game overall in that. And it'll be interesting to see what sort of mood Mbappe comes back in personally. I think he should be pretty chuffed with his World Cup, obviously. He was phenomenal hat-trick in the final, golden boot winner, as everyone knows, etc. But they've got a great chance. I mean, they've got a tough draw. They're playing Bayern Munich in the last 16 in February, but Bayern Munich have just lost Manuel Neuer to a long-term injury, breaking his leg skiing. They lost Luka Hernandez before the tournament as well. They're probably outstanding centre-back over the last 18 months. So they've lost Mane, etc. They're maybe dipping into the market in January for a striker. So things are a lot more unsettled at Bayern than they are at PSG for me. I think PSG going to that tie as favourites. If Messi wins another Champions League outside of Barcelona, without Pep, without Xavi and Iniesta, the final few complaints or criticisms of his career are kind of eradicated. So I'd love to see him win the Champions League this year. And then I'm kind of with Henry. I think he should stay in Europe and retire in Europe. I don't really see the benefit of going to the MLS. If he could go back to Barcelona, that'd be an absolute dream story. But I just don't see how they manage to do it financially. So for me, I want him to either stay at PSG and retire at the end of the season, maybe, and just leave on a massive high, win the Ballon d'Or for an eighth time, and that's finito. Or just maybe go for a couple more years at PSG, but not to the MLS. Okay, yeah. I don't think he's going to be doing quite the Ronaldo arc of getting to 40, which is what he wants to do. Quick one then, we'll touch upon this international future. You think he should retire now, having just won the World Cup. You're kind of happy with him to keep going. Two more years! Why do you feel like now is the peak of the powers? I just think it's such an epic time. Your final game, you've scored two goals in a final, you've been the key reason behind your nation doing it. I don't think it was a carry job, like lots of people have said on Twitter. I think there were some great performances across that squad from Enzo Fernandez, Julian Alvarez, Otamendi until the final had a great World Cup. Molina had a pretty solid World Cup until the final and then slightly let himself down. Rodrigo de Paul, McAllister, there was loads of stars in this side. But Messi was the talisman. He was the shining light in that side and produced the best form of his international career by a distance across those seven, eight games, which must just be so satisfying. So for me, it can't get any better. Of course, Scaloni would want him to continue, but I just think it's such an epic way to go out. But that's just me. Okay. And your reason for staying? You think just keep going on this great form? I do. I think enjoy it. I think you have to remember that the Copa America he won was one in front of an empty stadium. So they didn't really get to experience that kind of emotion, which I mean, they're lapping up right now in Buenos Aires. I think another crack at sort of cementing their status as champions of South America coming up against the Brazil side, let's face it, still a brilliant side. I think that's something really for him to relish more glory and just try and build on the legacy of this team they have now. I think that's what he maybe wants to do. Yeah. I see both sides. I see both sides. And if it was me, I think I would call it. Because even winning the Copa America, even winning the Copa America again is not going to be the same kind of history as obviously winning the World Cup, having only done it not too long ago. And obviously, Brazil will be itching to try and get the Copa America after what happened as well to Argentina. And I do think eventually Argentina need to move on, at least start making plans for moving on and doing what they're going to do without Lionel Messi because at the moment he's so reliant on him and everything that they do. And maybe now is a decent time to do that while you've still got your young guns developing. Because if they all start playing with Messi and into that system of being used to playing with Messi, maybe it'll be a little bit too late later on. So it will be interesting. Final point I want to touch upon here. So the biggest debate after the final was that Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo. It seems that that has proven it. He'd won the World Cup. He'd gone there. Now, I think me and you have always been Messi is better. However, you're a recent convert after the World Cup, right? Yeah, welcome. Indeed. Now, I put a tweet out earlier asking if there are people that still believe that Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi, please let me know. A lot of people kind of thought I was taking the mic when I really wasn't. I was trying to find out their arguments. And I wanted to ask you, why does the World Cup make it that much different if you were still, prior to that, believing that it was Cristiano Ronaldo? I just think there's so many nitpicky reasons of why you might pick one or the other. And it's just ended the debate there and then because I don't think that Portuguese side was any weaker than the Argentine side. Because a lot of people have said to me here that apparently Argentine squad was much, much better. I disagree with that entirely. I really do. I think they're almost fairly similar. You had Otamendi on one side, Pepe on the other. I appreciate he's like 39. But I mean, I still think that they had enough talent running through that Portuguese side, Leão, Bruno, Fernandes, to make it... Bernardo Silva. Yeah, Bernardo Silva, exactly. We're talking world-class players, whereas a lot of the guys that we're talking about as stars in this Argentine squad have basically just risen to the occasion within the structure, which allows Messi to shine. So yeah, I think Portugal had way more going for them. And I think that Santos, he's lost his job, hasn't he? I think I just think it adds that into it. I still stand by what I think what Ronaldo has done in his career is phenomenal. And I think he's taken his raw talent and maximised it in a way that very few professionals are able to do in terms of the way he looks after himself and what he's achieved. And I'm not gonna lie, the things that he's been up to recently have wowed me out. He's genuinely dropped off my estimations as a person. And that's kind of, I think it's hugely disappointing. And then sort of causing a hissy fit during the World Cup itself. And yeah, and then Messi really, when... I mean, it wasn't just the goals and assists in this tournament, it was those passes, the way to pass. It was just unbelievable. Some of his performances, and this is why I'm so obvious saying it now, but yeah, I think everything I've seen at this World Cup, plus him winning the trophy, plus all the emotion. I mean, I'm a bit of a football romantic, I think. I mean, I've been wrapped up by it all. And yeah, for me now, the quarrel is over. It's Messi. I find it very interesting that it's the World Cup that proved that point, because I don't feel like Messi's doing anything different to what he was doing a month ago, compared to Cristiano Ronaldo. That would be my biggest one. And to be fair to Cristiano Ronaldo, he is older than Messi at this World Cup. He is. I mean, I was always slightly critical about the fact that he hadn't played outside Barcelona. He's gone to PSG. I'm not gonna pretend that PSG is the ultimate challenge when it comes to club football, because, well, it's just not. But still, you can't take away anything that he's achieved. And I think this World Cup has just validated once and for all the true awesome power that he possesses. And to raise that emotional level alongside Maradona, I don't think you can take anything away from him anymore. And what about you? Has this World Cup proved even more so, or do you think it hasn't necessarily had as... I mean, it's of course going to have an impact on your decision between the two. Or was it never a decision anyway? It was always Messi. I think this World Cup will secure his legacy amongst the casual football fan, really. The ones that look purely at medals in 20, 30 years' time and be like, Messi can't, because he never scored a knockout goal in a World Cup beforehand. And he probably did need to fix that in this World Cup. Neither has Ronaldo? Neither has Ronaldo, of course. But it was the moments he provided as well, you know, the assist versus the Netherlands, the assist versus Croatia, you know, endless, countless amazing goals, particularly that one against Mexico, which proved so crucial when it was still 0-0 after, what, 60 minutes or so. So he did carry that side amongst some very other useful players. And as I said earlier, it provided the best football of his career when it mattered most, under that scrutiny, under that pressure, against a side as good as France, who are the world champions, with probably the best player in the world in Mbappe, even though Messi, you know, is the greatest of all time. Right now, you'd probably still take Mbappe over him on a day-to-day basis. So it was a phenomenal ending to a great story. And yeah, I was just really, really happy to see it. Yeah, I think the fact his character shone through so much in this tournament is really important. When Ronaldo won the Euros, we saw him go off in tears and then he was barking orders from the touchline. You really saw how much it meant for him to be there, to be that leader of Portugal, so many years after he broke through in 2004 and was crying then. And now we've seen that once and for all, really, because that was the big criticism of Messi in Argentina, was that he didn't always wear his heart on his sleeve for his country. And we've seen that unequivocally. And I think that is, for a lot of people, myself included, that's an important factor. Well, I've got some of the replies here to the tweet I said earlier. One of them here from Matthew. He did it in the best, most physically challenging league in the world as a teenager in his early 20s. And apparently he can do objectively things that Messi cannot, such as heading the ball. But I just always think like, okay, Ronaldo's got that one. Does it matter? Does that make him a better player? Yeah, I mean, we're nitpicking here, but I mean, Messi scored one of the best Champions League final goals I can remember as a header in 2009 against Man Utd. I just think when you're having to nitpick, when you're having to be very careful by going like, oh, Ronaldo's better at heading, like, okay, what else? After that, I don't think there's much else. Peter Crouch is better at heading because he's just taller. And I think one of the biggest things that people take as well, when people say this, I think a lot of people are saying that Ronaldo is bad. No way. And as you mentioned earlier, in terms of people that have worked super, super hard, I personally probably believe Ronaldo's worked harder than Messi to get to where he is. But Messi's just naturally gifted. And there's a time where you just sort of go, you know what? He is just the best because of what his natural talents have allowed him to get to. I think the final point I'd like to make is that as Ronaldo's get older, his role within a side has got more and more limited. Whereas when Messi's got older and his pace has gone, he's been used in different areas of the pitch because he can be equally as effective slash the best player in the world in midfield. He can be the best ten in the world. Like Ronaldo has become a penalty box operator and he's been great at that for the last few years, but seems to be struggling much more with the fact he can't do what he used to do. Whereas Messi has adapted so much better to his body getting older. Well, there we have it. I want to know though what you guys think in the comments below. I have a feeling that the majority of people watching Football Daily would be Lionel Messi fans. But if you are a Cristiano Ronaldo fan, you do believe that he is better, please get in the comments below. Don't attack each other. Have a good debate. I'd be really interested to hear people's opinions because I'm hearing here that people are just saying this now because Messi has won the World Cup and Ronaldo is a little bit older. So it's a bit unfair to compare, but please get your comments down there. Let me know your thoughts and opinions. And what do you guys think Messi should do next? That has been today's talking point. Make sure you're watching other Football Daily content by clicking onto me right now. You'll subscribe to the channel and liking the video and we'll see you very soon.