Piers Morgan claims Lionel Messi is 'quitting elite football' ahead of his proposed move to Inter Miami - and yet he will avoid the 'scathing' criticism that Cristiano Ronaldo faced when he headed to Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo forced his way out of Manchester United following a damning interview with Morgan that targeted the club and its manager Erik ten Hag.
The Portuguese star was widely derided for being a mercenary and taking a mega-money deal to join Al-Nassr, rather than continue at the highest level in Europe.
Now, with Messi, 35, walking out on French champions Paris Saint-Germain and being set to head to Major League Soccer, Morgan wants - but is not expecting - to see the same level of criticism.
'So, Messi quits elite football at 35, three years earlier than Ronaldo,' he tweeted. 'Presumably, we'll now read/hear all the same scathing, mocking pieces by sportswriters/pundits that they wrote/said about Cristiano - right? (Spoiler alert: we won't.)'
Messi, the reigning World Cup champion and Argentina captain, has reportedly decided to join Inter Miami.
According to prominent Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, Messi has made the decision to head to the South Florida-based club this summer.
That follows on reporting from French newspaper L'Equipe on Wednesday morning, that said the South Florida-based club was 'on pole' for Messi's signature after the Argentine received formal offers from Saudi Arabia.
Morgan has repeatedly made it clear that he finds the double standard when discussing Messi and Ronaldo excruciating - one example being at the FIFA World Cup last winter.
The outspoken presenter ripped into the BBC for 'fan-girling' over Messi after he scored his 789th career goal in his 1,000th appearance in professional football.
Messi was praised by pundits Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Pablo Zabaleta and Rio Ferdinand after helping Argentina to the quarter-finals of what is almost certain to be his last World Cup, but Morgan didn't take too kindly to the words on Twitter.
Morgan branded the praise 'excruciatingly obsequious' as Lineker and Co commended Messi on air.
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