Miguel Layún: “Messi’s move to MLS does not benefit Mexico”

With the Leagues Cup coming up, where clubs from Mexico, Canada and the United States will play, Miguel Layún spoke about Lionel Messi’s transfer to Inter Miami.

“Mexican football won’t benefit at all, honestly. I don’t see how Messi being in MLS could benefit Mexico. I think it’s very good for MLS, yes. The Messi thing seems very good for him... I think MLS offers certain things at a family level that other leagues don’t, but to be very specific I don’t see any benefit for Mexico or the Mexican league.

“If you were to tell me that Messi was going to come and play at the Azteca Stadium against América or that he’s going to go to Mazatlan and fill the stadium and people are going to see him, then I would say it gives exposure to the Mexican league,” he said in an interview with Clarosports.

Messi could face Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup since Inter Miami are in a group with the Mexican club as well as with Atlanta United. The match will take place on 21 July at 18:00 Mexico time.

Copa Libertadores ‘more important’

As for the Leagues Cup, Layún was not very happy about playing in it, saying that the Copa Libertadores is a much more important competition.

“The Leagues Cup is a tournament that is going to be held in the United States, where we are going to have to move within the United States, away from our families, away from our homes, always playing away. It seems to me to be a tournament designed more for the United States and MLS than for the Mexican league and Mexican clubs. Even when we played in the Libertadores, which is much more important at international level, it was a two-legged game, where we competed on equal terms.”