I think it was because his wife didn’t want to move there but why?
Here are some reasons why:
Abuse - No doubt they would have abused him, and Messi sensed it. He has never looked happy whenever he has been in the middle east. They would have used him in whatever they want because of the insane contract and to get most of the money they are paying him for.
There are so many aspects of abuse including manipulation, fan abuse, drama and many more. Huge amounts of money is fishy why? 1 you are putting yourself in a lot of pressure, 2 - if anything goes wrong you will be called a gold digger and 3 you will not be able to get out like ever.
It is likely they tried with Cristiano but he is more of a alpha male. Cristiano cannot accept to be abused but Messi is gentle, and he cannot really stand for himself unless he has a support system so he really decided to avoid it which is wise.
Policing culture - The moment he could have stepped there a whole lot of vultures would have swarmed into his wife’s personal life and criticized what they deem not to believe. Example look at Cristiano’s wife and how much abuse he gets
Picture of Georgina with new hairstyle - Georgina Rodríguez (@georginagio) • Instagram photos and videos
and most of her pics got lots of waarabuchafu hate.
Like can’t you live your life? If you are disgusted with someone, leave their lives alone. 1 she does not follow to your ideology why should she subscribe to it, 2 - is your life that miserable?
Competition - Messi has proven himself and he didn’t really want compete again against Cristiano or whomever. And lots of slander from media and fans especially if you don’t perform because you are not doing what they paid you for.
Avarice is the downfall of most men…if you are rich as Ronaldo why the fuck should you even think of going to live in the gulf…the weather is terrible…you cunt see any ass ni tu macho tu and the worst part is Arabs really follow their religion and culture to the latter ile culture shock ilipiga christiano hatawai sahau…messi alijanjaruka
Messi has always been the media’s darling.He went to the MLS, because he’ll have an option of buying a MLS club at a discount like Beckham did.Football is expected to be more popular in America as time goes on,so more potential revenue in the future.
Mtu yeyote anakuja gulf na tayari ni dollar millionaire ni mjinga kuruka…even me nachukuanga contract ya mwaka moja niki rudi vumbistan na mi sio dollar millionaire…buda this place has the worst weather in the world…wachia mamboch wa Kenya hao ndio wao husema afathali wakufie uku ju ya kupanda escalators na fast trains…right now temperature inachezea apa