David Beckham has revealed how he managed to convince Lionel Messi to sign for Inter Miami this summer.
On the back of the 22/23 season, it became clear that Messi’s time with Paris Saint Germain was coming to an end.
After weeks of intense speculation, it was confirmed that Messi would ditch European football and sign for MLS side Inter Miami, who are part-owned by Beckham.
While appearing on the latest episode of Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast, Beckham spoke about how he managed to convince Messi to sign for his club. He said: “When I started this journey, ten years ago, announcing that I was starting a team in Miami, my vision was always to bring the best players. I suppose as an owner of a team, you always want to bring in the best players, but the chance of bringing in the best, is difficult and always challenging.
“But then, I sneaked into Messi’s dad’s hotel about four years ago in Barcelona for a meeting with him and obviously, at that point, we weren’t ready to bring him in and he wasn’t ready to come.
“I turned around to his dad and said, ‘we want your son, we want him to come to Miami when he’s ready’, and if that’s a possibility. We continued the conversations, and with my partners, Jorge Mas and Jose [Mas], we just worked on it for about four years.”
Beckham continued: “When he was at PSG [Paris Saint-Germain], we saw an opportunity and he was either going to go back to Barcelona [or to Miami], but then suddenly, everything aligned, and we were still having the conversations.
“To bring someone like him to the club, we knew it would change the club and we knew it would change the league and the sport – but it’s beyond that. What he does on the pitch, what he does off the pitch, for the young kids – to bring somebody in like him is the dream, also Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
“To bring in Leo has changed everything. The academy kids have someone to look up to, who has done everything, won everything, and he’s teaching them, which is amazing.”
Beckham went on to reveal Messi is already having an impact on the academy.
He said: “There was an interview the other day with one of the academy kids, who is doing well, and they turned round to him and said, ‘what’s the best bit of advice that Leo has given you so far?’
“And he said, ‘to walk more’. He said ‘to walk more because you see more’ so it’s already started with the good that he does. It’s incredible.”
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