Lionel Messi calling the MLS a "minor league" has some questioning his power in the leagueGetty Images
Messi’s relationship with MLS is a “whole new level of power for a pro athlete," according to Cathal Kelly of the GLOBE & MAIL. Messi is “no great orator," but he has “one salutary habit -- he says what he’s thinking.” In one of many off-season interviews, at home in Argentina, Messi “got to musing about the past year.” According to a translation of the interview, Messi said, “I said it several times and it is a reality -- I will always try to compete to the maximum and I am the first to know when I can be there and when I can’t. I am also aware that I went to a minor league, but a lot happens because of the way one faces it and competes.” Kelly wrote calling MLS a "minor league" is an "indisputable truth," but it is "not polite to say it.” Kelly: "What consequences can MLS visit on Messi? It will take his face off the billboards and replace him with who exactly? It will stop doubling the prices to games Messi plays in, at home and on the road?" Messi can “take the field in a tank top and flip flops and all MLS can do is make sure it has Messi flip flops for sale at the online store by halftime.” The day he leaves is the day this "whole operation goes back to being fourth-rate," so until then, Messi "can say what he likes” (GLOBE & MAIL, 12/3).
