“We just beat out all the competition to sign the best player to ever play our game.” A feeling that could well be similar to when you score the winning goal of your team, or a stadium like Wembley, the most important in your country, chant your name.
David Beckham had the same feeling, as he acknowledged in a recent interview at The Athletic, when he found out that Leo Messi would play for the team he owns. A team that is barely three years old. A milestone that can mark a before and after in the MLS league.
The Argentine star has signed until next winter of 2025, but there are already many who consider that the magnitude of this signing will transcend Messi himself, and that its pull effect can go so far that it can certainly offset the Saudi dollars coming from Arabia.
You only have to observe how his debut with the pink elastic of Inter Miami developed to glimpse a little of the future to come: two goals and two assists in the 4-0 win over Atlanta.
Messi opens ownership with a brace against Atlanta United
“It was always on my mind to bring Messi. There is no one better. It all came up during a chat with my partners, Jos and Jorge Mas, while we had a glass of wine,” acknowledges the Manchester United legend, who remembers that the first approach with the environment with Messi was in 2019when he secretly met Jorge Messi in Barcelona to tell him that “it’s still early, but we would love to have Leo in Miami.”
Bekcham, as a reference
The English player himself went to the United States in 2007, at the age of 32 and from Real Madrid. There were those who told him that he was taking a risk, that heMLS was no place for him. Still, Beckham moved on and went to the Los Angeles Galaxy. And somehow, the Briton thinks that his own football career has helped Messi to take the final step and sign for his club.
I woke up at 5 in the morning because my phone kept vibrating. Victoria told me: ‘seriously? Turn off the phone!’ I put on my glasses and said: Leo is coming!
He saw this as a project, a legacy and I don’t think many players see that. They see the opportunity to play in different places, but Leo saw that he could not only change the face of football in this country, he could inspire the next generation. and there is no better way to do it than in Miami and having all the kids talking about it, watching and learning.
The call
“I was in Japan with my family and I woke up at 5 in the morning because my phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. Victoria told me ‘seriously? Turn off your phone!’ I put on my glasses and said: Leo is coming! goosebumps talking about it.
It is impossible to predict the effect that Messi’s arrival in the United States can have in a hobby that, traditionally, has moved through disciplines such as baseball or American footballwhose tradition has been passed from father to son for generations. However, with Messi the coup d’état can be so important that soccer can coexist with those great American sports.
