How Beckham’s dream of owning an MLS team and signing Messi was set in motion way back in 2007 due to special clause
DAVID BECKHAM is the proud owner of Inter Miami, which is now home to arguably the greatest player of all time.
Becks made a huge splash this summer as his club completed the signing of Lionel Messi after his release by PSG.
And the former England captain told The Athletic: “This will be up there with the biggest moves in American sporting history.
“And we’re talking about the biggest sporting market in the world.
“Bringing Leo Messi to Inter Miami, to MLS, the year after he wins the World Cup, to a team that is three years old… it’s a hell of an achievement.
“I never thought I would have the same feeling as an owner as I had when I was a player.
“When I got the phone call, I had the feeling I had when I walked out at Old Trafford or Wembley.
“I was like, ‘We’ve just beaten all competition to sign the greatest player to ever play our game’.”
It was a transfer that had been set in motion 16 years earlier.
As part of Beckham’s deal to join LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, the former England captain was given the option of buying an MLS franchise anywhere except New York City for £20m after he finished playing.
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Just a year after his retirement in 2013, Becks would activate the clause, with the approval for Inter Miami arriving in 2018.
In September 2019, months before Inter Miami would even play their first MLS match, Beckham was putting the wheels in motion for the signing of Messi.
He said: “We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly.
“We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi [Lionel’s dad 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’.”
He added that Inter Miami’s managing owner Jorge Mas was key in planting the seed in Messi’s head.
Beckham commented: “Then obviously Jorge 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.”
And he mentioned that his own move to the US helped to sway Messi to make the decision.
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Beckham said: “I think what helped with Leo is he’d seen my journey and what was possible.
“When I made the move, I was 32 and had come from Real Madrid.
“I got criticism because I was going to a league that had 13, 14 teams and only six stadiums that were soccer-specific.
“I think Leo had seen that and thought, ‘OK, this is an opportunity’.”
On June 7, Messi’s move to Inter Miami was announced and Beckham remembers exactly where he was at the time.
He said: “I was in Japan with the family and woke up at 5am because my phone kept vibrating.
“My wife was like, ‘Really?! Turn your phone off!’.
“I look on my phone and I’m like, ‘What’s happened? Something’s happened!’.
“I put my glasses on and I’m like, ‘Leo’s coming! It’s done! He has announced it!’.
“My wife was like, ‘What do you mean he has announced it?’.
“I said, ‘He has gone on TV and said he’s coming to Inter Miami!’.
“I get goosebumps talking about it.”
And Messi’s arrival seems to have been worth the wait, with the Argentine reducing Becks to tears with his last-gasp debut winner before scoring two more in his second game for the club.