2023-07-29 06:15:41
In an interview for The Athletic, David Beckham, owner of Inter Miami, revealed behind the scenes of the signing of Lionel Messi in his Florida club. The former Manchester United player reveals that negotiations started in 2019.
“It all started with a conversation over a glass of wine at dinner.” In a long interview for The AthleticDavid Beckham, owner of Inter Miami, recounts the arrival of Lionel Messi in his club and how the discussions took place to convince the Argentine star to join MLS.
“We would love to have Leo in Miami”
Without specifying the place or the date, he says that while he was building his club project in MLS, having obtained in his contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy a place for his future franchise in the North American championship. , he dines with Jorge Messi, father and agent of Lionel. “I told him: ‘One day Messi will have to come to our club.’ That’s probably when we first met,” he said.
Then a new meeting takes place in September 2019, a few months before Inter Miami plays its first match in MLS, as part of a much more official first meeting. “We got on a plane and secretly flew from London to Barcelona,” Beckham says of a secret trip to the city where Messi was then playing. “We slipped into a hotel, met Jorge Messi and struck up a conversation. The conversation boiled down to: ‘We would like your son to play for our team one day. We know he can’t come yet, but one day we would like to have Leo in Miami.'”
A long-term project
“Then Jorge Mas (the general manager of Inter Miami) did an incredible job explaining what he could do for the sport in this country, what he could do for MLS and what he could do for Inter Miami.” David Beckham believes that if Lionel Messi was able to make this choice to leave Europe to join MLS, it is partly thanks to him and his stopover at the Los Angeles Galaxy after leaving Real Madrid: “I think this what helped Leo was that he had seen my journey and what was possible.”
“I think Leo saw that and was like, ‘OK, this is an opportunity.’ He also understood that it was a long-term project, he insists, taking as a reference that of the development of MLS.If we lose our first two matches with Leo, it does not worry me. I want to win. Leo wants to win. José and Jorge (Mas) want us to win. But the most important thing is that it’s a long-term project. That’s how I’ve always seen it. That’s how Leo sees it.”
The ex-midfielder reveals he learned of Lionel Messi’s decision like everyone else, as talks were underway with the player’s clan to reach an agreement. Decision finally announced by the former PSG in the Catalan press on June 7. “I was in Japan with my family and woke up at 5 a.m. because my phone kept vibrating, Beckham recalls. My wife was annoyed, ‘Really?! Turn off your phone!’ I looked at my phone and I was like, ‘What happened? Something happened! I put my glasses on and I was like, ‘Leo is coming! is done! He announced it! My wife said to me: ‘How come he announced it?’ I said, ‘He came on TV and announced he was coming to Inter from Miami!'”
“It gave me goosebumps. I called Jorge (Mas) straight away and I was very moved because I know what we have been through in recent years. Trying to build this club, the obstacles , the challenges – trying to get land (to build a stadium), going into legal battles… for all the problems we had, that moment changed everything. It changed our whole club. When Victoria woke up, she hugged me and that’s when I got emotional again. It was without a doubt one of the best times of my life.”
“I never thought I would experience this as an owner”
“Leo won everything you can win as a player. The World Cup must have been the icing on the cake. He saw it as a project, a legacy, and I don’t think a lot of players see it. that. Leo, on the other hand, understood that he could not only change the face of football in this country, but also inspire the next generation. There is no better way to do that than by stepping onto our pitch at Miami and seeing all the kids talking about it and watching it and learning. It’s also about making this sport bigger and better in this country – it can do it, it will and it has done it. This It’s not just all of Miami talking about Leo, it’s all of America, the whole world.”
“I never thought I would have the same feeling as an owner as I did when I was a player,” Beckham says of the moment he learned Messi had chosen to join Miami. “When I got the phone call I had the same feeling as when I came out of Old Trafford or Wembley. I thought to myself, ‘We’ve just beaten all competition to sign the greatest player in the game. history of our sport”.
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