Former Manchester United player-turned-coach Phil Neville has claimed that current club Inter Miami signing Lionel Messi "would be probably the biggest signing ever in American sports".
Messi, 35, is just two months removed from being named the best player at the World Cup, scoring seven goals and assisting another three, after leading Argentina to the trophy and continues to play at the highest level in the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain. The player remains a key contributor for the French club, too, scoring a 95th-minute winner just last weekend against Lille to keep the Parisians five points clear atop Ligue 1.
That strike was Messi's 16th of the season for PSG, and he has also assisted a further 14 for teammates across just 27 appearances. The player is in the second year of the two-year contract signed after leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2021, and an extension is yet to be signed, meaning he is set to become a free agent at the end of the current campaign.
READ MORE: Neville lifts the lid on working under Beckham at Inter Miami
Neville was recently asked in an interview with The Athletic about the rumours linking Messi to Miami, what such a transfer would mean for the club and whether any potential move would be bigger than when the New York Cosmos convinced Pelé to come out of retirement back in 1975 and sign for the North American Soccer League side or former United teammate and current boss David Beckham signing for Los Angeles Galaxy some 32 years later.
Neville replied: "I think it goes bigger than Inter Miami. I think it’s in MLS. It’s big for the MLS. I think this would be probably the biggest signing ever in American sports."
Asked whether the club are currently prepared for the increased attention such a move would entail, the head coach claimed that "life will change" and "things will be different."
Neville continued, explaining: "The trees might have to be bigger (around the training ground.) The security might have to be tighter. The walk that the players have today over to that stadium; that might have to be different. The travel might be different. The hotels we stay in might have to be different.
"But really, that might be what we’re aspiring to be like anyways. It’s exciting, but I think it’d be a massive challenge."
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