Global Courant
MIAMI — Lionel Messi has delivered his latest stunning achievement: he moves to Major League Soccer and joins Inter Miami.
After months – even years – of speculation, Messi finally revealed on Wednesday his decision to join a Miami franchise that has been led since its inception by another global football icon, David Beckham, but has yet to make any real splashes on the pitch made.
That will probably change soon. One of Inter Miami’s owners, Jorge Mas, tweeted a photo of a Messi jersey with dark silhouettes shortly before the Argentine great revealed his decision in interviews with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport.
It was widely believed that Messi would ultimately choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, following his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo to a country where some clubs are now funded by the state’s sovereign wealth fund. Going back to Barcelona, a legendary franchise where he spent most of his career, was another possibility.
But in the end he made the call that surprised many. Messi goes to the MLS. He said in interviews on Wednesday that some final details have yet to be worked out, but that he has made the call to “continue my way” in Miami.
“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 enjoy football in a different way,” said Messi.
He didn’t take the money. He didn’t choose the memories. He chose Miami instead. Messi’s next matches are likely to be friendlies with Argentina against Australia on June 15 in Beijing and Indonesia four days later in Jakarta – and then his Inter Miami debut will be sometime in July.
“We are delighted that Lionel Messi has stated his intention to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” read a statement from MLS. “While there is still work to be done to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest footballers of all time to our league.”
The seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or – the trophy awarded annually to the world’s best player – is making his move after two years at Paris Saint-Germain. At 35 years old, Messi has nothing left to prove in the game and in December filled the only significant box on his resume by leading Argentina to the World Cup title.
Messi has scored more than 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the sport. In more than 17 years representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents – 16 of those goals have come on American soil. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that ended 3-3 with Argentina winning 4-2 on penalties.
He’s been to the pinnacle of the game. A four-time winner of the Champions League, 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 Copa del Reys and three Club World Cups plus a Copa América . and Olympic gold medal for Argentina.
And now he comes to MLS, and a team struggling – last place in the Eastern Conference, just days away from the firing of coach Phil Neville (who was handpicked by Beckham two years ago).
Messi’s decision to play in the US may be the biggest boost ever for American professional football. Some of the game’s biggest names – Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Thierry Henry and Beckham himself – have come to the US towards the end of their careers, but have produced a player who is still no worse than near the peak of his game and just a few months away from hoisting a World Cup is just huge.
“This is clearly the biggest signing they’ve brought in,” said Nashville defenseman Walker Zimmerman, a regular on the U.S. national team. “It’s a bit reminiscent of Beckham when he originally came. You saw how the league has changed in the 15 years since he arrived, and hopefully in 15 years we’ll see all the growth from this addition to the league. I love it.
“I think it will be great for the sport in this country, especially in view of the 2026 World Cup. And I’m looking forward to playing against him.”
It took months of negotiations with the Miami-owned MLS, Adidas and even Apple to get involved in a creative pitch to bring Messi to the Miami pitch. Apple, a broadcast partner of MLS, announced on Tuesday that it will screen an as-yet-untitled four-part documentary series “with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to global superstar Lionel Messi. … In his own words, Messi tells the definitive story of his incredible career with the Argentina national football team, providing an intimate and unprecedented look at his quest for a legendary World Cup victory.”
And now his story gets a Miami chapter.
It took Inter Miami six years from the start to play its first game, and the first four seasons were not great.
Messi joins a team that is last 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 even a positive goal difference.
Yet there have been hints for months that Miami stayed very much in the Messi sweepstakes. Messi met with Inter Miami co-owner Beckham this spring, and it was shared almost publicly to make sure everyone knew the sides were still talking. Messi and his family also own several luxury properties in South Florida, and – almost as if to suggest that something big was on the way – the MLS club told fans that the only way they could get tickets for the second half of this season could get was for a subscription package.
He is a huge draw all over the world, including in Miami. Two days after Argentina won the World Cup, Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry was on his team’s bench for a game that couldn’t be played due to injury. He was wearing a Messi shirt that night.
Inter Miami still plays home games in a temporary facility in Fort Lauderdale, about 45 minutes north of the site in Miami where the team wants to build a permanent complex.
And even in an area where the population has a serious Latin flavor, and where more people call the sport futbol than football, Inter Miami has struggled to capture the same attention as the area’s major pro teams — Heat basketball, baseball Miami Marlins, soccer Miami Dolphins and hockey Florida Panthers.
Messi could change that in an instant. In a flash, he becomes the biggest name in MLS and makes everything Miami does newsworthy. Barcelona released a statement saying Jorge Messi, the player’s father, told club president Joan Laporta about the decision to go to Miami and wished him well.
“President Laporta understood and respected Messi’s decision to compete in a league with fewer demands, further away from the spotlight and the pressures he has been subjected to in recent years,” the Barcelona statement said.
His decision ends what has been a wild saga. Barcelona turned Messi into a superstar, but the financial problems that forced the team to let him go two years ago remain a problem.
“I’ve heard they have to sell players or cut players’ salaries and the truth is I didn’t want to go through that,” Messi said on Wednesday.
There are no financial problems with Saudi Arabia and speculation that he would end up there increased when Messi traveled to the kingdom without permission. PSG suspended him and some fans turned against him, serenading him towards the end of his season at the French club.
Everyone knew he would not come back to PSG. Few probably thought he was headed for Miami. But here he is, a move to Miami by a superstar perhaps even more shocking than LeBron James coming to the Heat 13 years ago.
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AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
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