David Beckham says Lionel Messi transfer 10 years in the making and required covert meetings
David Beckham has revealed his decade-long plan to bring Lionel Messi to Inter Miami involved covert trips to Barcelona.
The England legend and MLS franchise owner achieved one of his career dreams in July, bringing arguably football’s greatest-ever player to Florida.
Signing Messi on a free transfer after the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain, things have so far gone swimmingly for the Argentina World Cup-winning captain.
Three goals in two games for Inter Miami saw Beckham in tears, while the DRV PNK Stadium contained huge names such as LeBron James and Serena Williams for his debut.
Likely the league’s biggest-ever signing, or at least biggest ever since Beckham himself joined LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, Messi’s arrival was planned even before Inter Miami existed.
Beckham explained to The Athletic that he told Miami owner Jorge Mas that they needed to bring Messi in during their first-ever meeting, and that shirts were mocked up ten years ago.
Then came trips to Spain before Messi had even left for PSG.
“We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly,” Beckham explained. “We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi [Lionel’s father and agent] and started the conversation.
“It purely went, ‘We would love your son to play for our team one day. We know he can’t come yet, but one day we would love to have Leo in Miami’.
“Then obviously Jorge (Mas) did an incredible job creating a narrative around what he could do for the sport in this country, what he could do for MLS and what he could do for Inter Miami.”
Beckham added: “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 he could not just change the face
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