Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham has revealed covert talks over Lionel Messi’s MLS transfer started in 2019.
The World Cup winner joined the club this summer and has already scored three times in two Leagues Cup victories.
He could yet take the team to the play-offs in MLS in his first season and it would be rich reward for a deal four years in the making.
“We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly,” Beckham told The Athletic.
“We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi (Lionel’s father and also his agent) and started the conversation. It purely went, ‘We would love your son to play for our team one day. We know he can’t come yet, but one day we would love to have Leo in Miami’.
“Then obviously Jorge (Mas) did an incredible job creating a narrative around what he could do for the sport in this country, what he could do for MLS and what he could do for Inter Miami.”
