More than halfway through the regular MLS season and it’s certainly proving to be a tumultuous debut campaign for David Beckham’s newly formed Inter Miami CF side.
And even the expectant boost from the imminent arrival of Lionel Messi to the Herons wasn’t enough to lift their disastrous form, as a manager-less Miami limped to a sixth straight league defeat.
The result sees them firmly placed on the bottom of the table and well out of sight of this year’s playoff places, but with the news that, arguably, football’s greatest ever player Lionel Messi will be arriving on the East Coast, perhaps there’s hope they can turn this season around.
Messi’s signing was met with expected hysteria in the U.S. as he opted for the flavours of South Beach over the Arabian Peninsula, and was labelled as a major coup for a league that’s become synonymous with attracting Europe’s best players in the twilight of their careers.
Although now 35, Messi is still winning the biggest trophies in the world… So why did the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner reject a reported $450m-a-year contract to join Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia, to sign with the worst team in MLS?
WATCH how Messi signed his PSG contract back in 2021 below.
Well, Messi’s reported salary has fluctuated somewhat in the last few days, but it is widely believed to be around $80m AUD per year. For Messi though, who leaves European football having won practically every competition he’s played in, the pull for a move stateside could be worth more to him than a lucrative deal.
Alongside his base salary, which is reported to be paid partly by giants Apple and Adidas through broadcast and branding deals, there’s a good chance that Messi will be offered a purchase option for his own MLS team once he retires; something his new chairman David Beckham knows about all too well.
Lionel Messi’s first game in Miami colours could see him start against Philadelphia Union in July, but it remains to be seen whether his impact on the field will be enough to carry his team up the table, as he has done so many times throughout his career.
But if anyone can do it, it’ll be the greatest to have ever played the game.
