After several weeks of doubt, of rumors in various directions, Leo Messi ruled out the dizzying economic offer from Saudi Arabia and preferred not to wait for Barça. Finally, the Argentine opted for the proposal of Inter Miami, a MLS club in the United States that had been thinking about the Rosario soccer player for four years so that he would lead his booming project.
“In 2019 we started thinking about how we could bring it to Miami, a global city, on the rise. We want people when they think of soccer in the United States, to think of Miami. It’s good living and it’s pure business. Everyone wants to move here “, explains the owner of the Florida club, Jorge Mas, in an interview for El País.
However, the formal negotiations began in 2020. “I spent three years. A year and a half, very intensely. Many conversations with Jorge Messi. I saw it done at the end of May. David Beckham spoke with Leo, only about football issues, because he was playing. I didn’t want him to feel pressured. We’ve talked in Barcelona, ??Miami, Rosario, Doha… I spent the entire World Cup in Qatar, watching Argentina”, reveals the owner of Inter Miami.
The businessman of Cuban origin, who is also president of Zaragoza, explains that Messi will earn between “50 and 60 million a year”, less than what he would have received in Arab lands but much more than what the Barça club offered him, which contributed a Insufficient sentimental factor for Rosario. “There is a very important family element. Messi will be in his hemisphere, almost at the same time as in Rosario,” says Mas about other reasons that attracted ‘la Pulga’, in addition to the business opportunities offered by the country of bars and the stars: “It was more important to sell him the idea of ??soccer in the United States. This is the biggest commercial market on the planet. Messi can turn MLS into one of the two or three biggest leagues in the world.”
Messi will receive a portion of the Inter Miami television rights, in possession of Apple TV, and will also receive a percentage of the Inter Miami Adidas shirts that are sold with his name, “as is the case with other great athletes.” Once his stage in the team ends, the former Barça player will also “have a stake in the club.” “MLS has been key in helping with sponsorships,” he adds about institutional support.
Mas believes that the arrival of Messi will be a turning point “in the history of sports” in the United States. “There are two events here: Pelé’s arrival at the New York Cosmos [in 1975] and David Beckham’s in 2007 in Los Angeles. Messi will elevate the league to another level. I think he comes wanting to leave his mark, and he will be able to do it beyond football”, points out the billionaire, who equates the symbolism of Messi with that of Michael Jordan.
Mas also indicates that for them “it was essential to surround Messi with players of his level”, the first of them being Sergio Busquets, his friend and former teammate at Barça. The next one could be Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez and Ángel Di María, all of them friends of Messi, are also in the spotlight. The Argentine and company will have the challenge of improving the performance of Inter Miami, last in the Eastern Conference.
