US
Lionel Messi to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami
Football superstar Lionel Messi is to join David Beckham’s club Inter Miami.
The 35-year-old forward told Spanish media he is heading to America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) after his contract expires with Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month.
Messi, one of the world’s greatest players, had reportedly been offered €400m (£344m) a year to join Saudi club Al Hilal and was also linked with a move to his former club Barcelona.
Inter Miami offered Messi $54m (£43m) per year for four years, it was reported.
Lionel Messi is pictured playing for Barcelona against David Beckham when he was at PSG in 2013. Pic: AP
The US offer is also thought to include complex sponsorship deals with brands such as Apple and Adidas.
Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup victory last December, had been strongly linked with Al Hilal, to join a Saudi league that already features Cristiano Ronaldo and now Karim Benzema.
However, the Argentina striker confirmed in a joint interview with Spanish publications Mundo Deportivo and Sport that he was set to head to Florida.
“I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami,” Messi said.
“I still haven’t closed it 100%. I’m missing some things, but we decided to continue on the path.”
Last week, Phil Neville was sacked as manager of Inter Miami, who are co-owned by his former Manchester United and England teammate Beckham.
The Florida side are currently bottom of the 15-team Eastern Conference, with just five wins from 16 matches.
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A photo of Messi and his family visiting Riyadh was released in May by the Saudi tourism authority
Ticket prices rocket
Messi’s first game with the US team could be on 21 July when Inter Miami host Mexican side Cruz Azul in their Leagues Cup opener in Fort Lauderdale.
On Tuesday, the lowest price for a ticket for that game was just $29 but on Wednesday the price rocketed to $329 – a 1,034% jump – according to TickPick, an online ticket marketplace.
The company’s brand manager, Kyle Zorn, said: “We saw an almost instantaneous jump in Inter Miami ticket prices when the word got out that Messi was leaning towards joining the club.
“Given his status as arguably the greatest player in the world, every time Inter Miami plays on the road, we’re going to see record-breaking ticket prices.”
Messi led Argentina to World Cup victory last December
Messi had been linked with a move back to Barcelona, but confirmed when that was not set to happen, he chose a new challenge in the US.
He had talked to manager and close friend Xavi over a potential return to the Spanish club, but said he “spoke very little, once or twice at most” to president Joan Laporta.
He said: “We never even got to talk about the contract. A proposal was passed over, but never a formal, written, signed proposal… There was the intention, but we couldn’t advance anything, we didn’t even talk about money formally.”
Messi also said: “If the Barcelona thing didn’t work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more [about] my family.”
He added: “I heard that they [Barcelona] had to sell players or lower players’ salaries and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that, nor take charge of obtaining something that had to do with all that.”
Apple TV+ announced this week that it secured the rights to a four-part documentary about Messi’s career. The company is also in the first year of a TV rights deal with MLS.