Lionel Messi is the best thing to happen to Major League Soccer in it’s entire history. The former Barcelona legend decided to leave Europe finally last year, and made the historic decision to join Inter Miami, where he has since lifted them up to great levels.
And yet the decision to join a new club like Inter Miami was seen as shocking by many soccer fans. But it was due to co-owner and former soccer legend David Beckham that Messi was persuaded to join the club. And the Englishman has now revealed what he had to do to make it happen.
David Beckham reveals sneaking into hotel to recruit Lionel Messi
David Beckham revealed in an interview with James Cohen that the transfer of Lionel Messi to Inter Miami was five years in the making. Inter Miami was only formed in 2018, and Beckham decided the next year that he wanted Messi at his club. And to achieve this, he had to undergo a sneaky operation, just like James Bond. He managed to sneak into the hotel where Messi’s father, Jorge Messi, was living.
Beckham said how he managed to convince Messi’s father, “But then I sneaked into Messi’s dad’s hotel about four years ago in Barcelona for a meeting with him, and obviously at that point, you know, we wasn’t ready to bring him and he wasn’t ready to come. I turned around to his dad and said we want your son; we want him to come to Miami when he’s ready.”
At the time, Messi was still at his best for Barcelona and even Beckham knew that. He knew they couldn’t bring the Argentine at their club yet and worked to make it happen over the next few years. And it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened for the club.
Beckham discusses his initial reaction to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami move
While he worked to make the transfer happen, David Beckham never imagined it would come true. When he was asked what was his initial reaction to the move, he said, “The memory that I have chosen is the phone call that I got when I was in bed in Japan saying that Lionel Messi was signing for Miami.”
It was 4 am in the morning when his phone was buzzing continuously. Upon receiving it, he realized that they had managed to bring Messi to the club. He also shared his surprise and disbelief that they managed to crack the tricky transfer which would change the MLS, “I said, ‘Okay, Jorge, you and your wife Aledya have to go to the airport. Be there for the moment that he gets off that plane, because it might be his brother. We might have signed his brother. This is Leo. It’s Messi; it’s the greatest player to ever have played our game.”
David Beckham shares the story of how he found out Messi was coming to Inter Miami. pic.twitter.com/kkJrakGnfi
— R (@Lionel30i) March 22, 2024
Since then, Lionel Messi has completely transformed Inter Miami to one of the best in America. They won their first trophy under him in the Leagues Cup last year, and are challenging for the MLS this year. Messi and Miami will return to action against New York City on March 31.
