By Lionel Messi has been a revelation since joining Inter Miami from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. However, David Beckham’s dream of having the Argentine superstar play for his team dates back nearly a decade.
David Beckham, a co-owner of Inter Miami, envisioned Lionel Messi as part of his Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise from its inception. Messi, 36, joined Miami on a free transfer last summer after a storied career in Europe with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Since then, he has dazzled in the United States, scoring 23 goals in 27 games for Miami and leading the team to victory in the Leagues Cup.
Beckham, who became one of the most renowned soccer players in the MLS when he transferred to LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, had an option to purchase an expansion team as part of his deal. He exercised that option in 2014 and began mapping out his future plans, which included bringing Messi to Miami. At that time, Messi was at the peak of his career, securing the fifth of his eight Ballon d’Or titles in 2015.
While the prospect of Messi playing for Miami seemed far-fetched in 2014, Beckham held onto his dream. He even created a mock-up image of the forward donning the team’s pink kit to share with his colleagues—a vision that would become reality nine years later.
“My vision from day one, when I presented the team and tried to put the logo together and the colors, the last slide of the presentation to the creative guys was a picture of Messi in the Miami jersey,” Beckham revealed on the SmartLess podcast. “So my dream was always to bring him to our team. I still can’t believe it. Every time someone turns around to me and says you have Messi in your team, it is surreal. To say we have probably the greatest player to have ever played the game, the most successful player to ever play the game, and he’s playing in Miami in the MLS.”
Inter Miami was officially formed in 2018 and began its journey in the MLS two years later. Despite landing big names such as Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi in its initial years, the club didn’t win any major titles until Messi joined the team.
Source: TheMirror.com
