MLS
Lionel Messi says his adaptation to PSG and France was ‘difficult’
The World Cup winner sealed a move to MLS side Inter Miami, putting an end to his unhappy spell at PSG, and has since spoken about his time there.
Messi’s desperately sad time in Paris came to an end three weeks ago, when PSG announced his departure ahead of Inter Miami releasing the news that he had signed with the MLS franchise. The Argentine gave an interview to BeIN Sports in which he opened up on his time in France as well as mentioning the whistles he received from the PSG ultras.
“I came to Paris because I liked the club, because I had friends here and knew a lot of people in the dressing room, international teammates... It seemed to me like, going further than just the club, that I was going to have an easier time adapting, which is why I decided on coming”, said the player.
‘It was a difficult adaptation period’, says Messi
In terms of his tricky adaptation, which affected him most during his first few months at the club, he said: “the truth is that it was a very difficult adaptation period, a lot more than I thought.”
“Away from the relationships I had with the people I knew in the dressing room”, he continued, “and I had a good relationship with them, it was complicated to adapt to a new change. I got there late, I didn’t have a pre-season. I had to adapt to a new city, which was difficult for my family and I. It was complicated.”
The whistles from PSG fans were ‘an anecdote’
Finally, Messi spoke about the whistles from the PSG fans that could be heard from the stands: “I think the reception from the fans was nice at the start. I said so. Then people started to treat me differently, one part of the PSG fanbase, the rest and the majority kept treating me like before.”
“It also happened to Neymar and Mbappé before”, the Inter Miami player remarked, “I remember all the people who respected me as I always respected them since I arrived and [the whistles] were just an anecdote.”