Miami: Lionel Messi has achieved his latest astonishing feat: he is on his way to Major League Soccer, joining Inter Miami. After months – years, even – of speculation, Messi finally revealed on Wednesday his decision to join a Miami franchise that is led by another global soccer icon, David Beckham, but has yet to take the field. No real splash is made.
That will likely change soon. Jorge Mas, one of Inter Miami’s owners, tweeted a photo of Messi’s jersey in black, shortly before the Argentine great revealed his decision in interviews with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport .
David Beckham’s move to MLS is one of the best sports business deals ever:
_ Earned $255M in 5 years
_ Bought Inter Miami for $25M
_ Inter Miami is worth $600MAnd now they have Lionel Messi, which will increase the club’s valuation to ~$1 billion.
Incredible _ pic.twitter.com/BthRt6E4f9— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 7, 2023
It was widely believed that Messi would eventually choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, a nation where some clubs are now funded by the state’s sovereign wealth fund after long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo. A move back to Barcelona, the storied franchise where he spent most of his career, was another possibility.
But in the end he made the call that surprised many. Messi is joining MLS, He said in the interview on Wednesday that some final details still needed to be worked out, but he called on Miami to “continue on my way.” Messi said, “After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the United States league to live football in another way.”
He didn’t take the money. He didn’t choose the memories. He chose Miami instead. Messi’s next matches are expected to be against Australia in Beijing on June 15 and Argentina in Indonesia four days later in Jakarta – and then an Inter Miami start sometime in July.
“We are pleased that Lionel Messi has stated that he intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” said an MLS statement. “While work remains to be done to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest football players of all time to our league.”
Lionel Messi has nothing left to prove
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner – the trophy awarded annually to the world’s best player – makes his move after two years with Paris Saint-Germain. At 35, Messi has nothing left to prove in the sport and filled the only significant unchecked boxes on his resume to lead Argentina to the World Cup title in December.
Messi has scored over 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest scorers in the history of the game. In more than 17 years of representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents – 16 of these goals coming on US soil. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that ended 3–3 and Argentina won 4–2 on penalty kicks.
He has been at the absolute pinnacle of the game. He is a four-time Champions League winner and his 129 goals in the top club competition are second only to Ronaldo’s 140. Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and two Ligue 1 championships, seven Copas del Rey and three Club World Cups plus one Copa América. and the Olympic gold medal for Argentina.
Inter Miami struggling in MLS
And now he comes to MLS, and a team that is struggling – last place in the Eastern Conference, just days away from the sacking of coach Phil Neville (who was handpicked by Beckham two years ago). Messi’s decision to play in America may be the biggest boost ever for American football on the professional stage.
Some of the sport’s biggest names – Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Thierry Henry and Beckham himself – have moved to America towards the end of their careers, but the descent of a player still near the pinnacle of his sport is no worse and few Removed in months. It is a bigger thing than hoisting the World Cup.
It took months of negotiations to bring Messi onto Miami’s pitch, with MLS, Miami’s ownership, Adidas and even Apple involved in the creative pitch. Apple – which is a broadcast partner of MLS – announced on Tuesday that it will show an as-yet untitled four-part documentary series featuring “exclusive behind-the-scenes access to global superstar Lionel Messi. … His own In words, Messi tells the definitive story of his incredible career with the Argentina national football team, taking an intimate and unprecedented look at his quest for a legacy-defining World Cup victory.
And now, their story will have a Miami chapter. Inter Miami, owned by David Beckham, needed six years to make its debut, and its first four seasons have been less than stellar.
Messi is joining a team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference and has just fired its coach. It has made the playoffs in two of its first three seasons but has yet to finish a season with a winning record or a positive goal difference.
Messi could change it in a jiffy. In one fell swoop, he becomes the biggest name in MLS and reinvents everything Miami. Barcelona issued a statement saying the player’s father, Jorge Messi, told club president Joan Laporta about the decision to move to Miami and wished him well.
“President Laporta understands and respects Messi’s decision to compete in a league with fewer demands, away from the limelight and the pressures he has faced in recent years,” a Barcelona statement said.
His decision ends what has been a wild saga. Barcelona made Messi a superstar, but the financial issues that forced the team to let him go two years ago still remain an issue.
Messi said on Wednesday, “I heard that they would have to sell players or reduce the salaries of the players and the truth is that I did not want to go through that.”
There have been no financial problems with Saudi Arabia, and speculation ran rampant that Messi had made an unauthorized visit to the kingdom. PSG suspended him and some fans turned on him, mocking him at the end of his season with the French club.
