Lionel Messi completes MLS move, joins Inter Miami
Lionel Messi has officially, really, actually, seriously made the move to MLS.
The global soccer icon, weeks after announcing his intentions to head stateside and join Inter Miami, has signed a deal that runs through the 2025 season.
“I’m very excited to start this next step in my career with Inter Miami and in the United States,” said Messi in a league release announcing the widely-expected news. “This is a fantastic opportunity and together we will continue to build this beautiful project. The idea is to work together to achieve the objectives we set, and I’m very eager to start helping here in my new home.”
Barring any issues, Messi will make his debut in a Miami kit in the club’s July 21 Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul at DRV PNK Stadium.
BIENVENIDO 1️⃣0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/df1TJQQoYv
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) July 15, 2023
Terms of the deal, as has always been the case in MLS, have not been announced. However, Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas said that Messi’s playing contract would be in the neighborhood of $50-60 million, with the remainder of his compensation to come in the form of separate deals with Apple and Adidas. Even still, his contract with Miami will make him by far the league’s best-paid player.
Earlier on Saturday, Messi was seen arriving to train with the members of the Herons’ squad who didn’t travel for the club’s match at St. Louis City SC.
¡ASÍ LLEGABA MESSI A LA PRÁCTICA! Leo asistió al entrenamiento de Inter de Miami y se encontró con los hinchas argentinos que lo estaban esperando en la entrada del predio en Fort Lauderdale. Mañana, la presentación de la Pulga en el equipo de la #MLS.
📺 #ESPNenStarPlus pic.twitter.com/7aD6waxszG
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) July 15, 2023
In early June, Messi announced that he was heading to MLS, but at that time, contract talks were still ongoing. Still, the situation was far enough along by then that another member of the Inter Miami ownership group, David Beckham, was already calling the move “a massive moment.”
Ticket prices for Miami’s remaining MLS and Leagues Cup matches went through the roof, while Messi’s friend and former Argentina teammate Sergio Agüero (who now resides in Miami) pointed out that getting into the playoffs will be a monumental task.
As Messi pulled up to the training facility Saturday, the Herons sat at the bottom of the Eastern Conference on 18 points. The only team lower in the standings, the Colorado Rapids, only trail Miami by the league’s first tiebreaker (games won).
The man may be able to go grocery shopping without being mobbed, but the real work in Miami starts today.
