David Beckham is the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami, yet he learned about the signing of Lionel Messi indirectly on his cell phone, like the rest of the world.
Messi stunned the football world after the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner announced that he would join Inter Miami after reaching the end of his two-year spell with Paris Saint-Germain. Beckham, a former Manchester United and Real Madrid legend, was one of the main catalysts in making the deal come to fruition.
Despite being behind the deal, Beckham admitted that he found out the sale was official after his phone was bombarded with millions of messages. While it was not a surprise that Messi had an interest in the club, finding out about the stunning transfer via text message shows just how busy Beckham is as the co-owner of the club, as well as being the co-owner of Salford City - a League Two club in the English pyramid.
"A couple of weeks ago, I woke up to about a million messages on my phone," Beckham explained. "I was thinking, 'What's gone off? I don't usually get this many messages. All of a sudden, I hear Leo has come out and announced he's coming to Miami."
"Obviously, it wasn't a surprise to me. I have always said, from the word go, that if I had the opportunity to bring the best players in the game to Miami, at whatever time of their careers, I would do that. I have always made that commitment to our fans.
"So when I hear that one of the best players — if not the best player — who has won everything in the game, who is still a great player, still young and still doing what he's doing, wants to play for my team, it's a massive moment for us.
Beckham was also jokingly asked why he decided not to lure Messi toward Salford City over the move to Miami. He joked that the transfer was due to geographical reasons, discarding the fact that the Argentine legend already owned property in the South Florida area and wanted to relocate his family so that they could enjoy themselves.
The arrival of Messi to America negated any possibilities of the superstar joining a recent trend of players who have chosen to take their talents to a financially prospering Saudi Arabian league, and also removing the option of re-joining Barcelona - the place where Messi spent his first 17 seasons after graduating through their youth ranks.
Inter Miami CF owner Jorge Mas recently revealed that the deal to bring Messi to Miami was a three-year process. While Messi was still at Barca, Mas began recruiting, with the Apple deal pivotal for the move.
"In 2019, we started thinking about how we could bring him," Mas told Spanish newspaper El Pais. "I spent three years on it, a year-and-a-half [working] intensely. There were many conversations with [Messi's father and agent] Jorge. [Inter Miami co-owner] David [Beckham] talked to Leo, only about football issues, because he was a player."
Messi is expected to first play for his new club against Cruz Azul on July 21 in the Leagues Cup.
