Lionel Messi’s Miami move puts him in a new position: MLS salesman

Last fall—just a few months before Lionel Messi lifted the men’s World Cup aloft—I called Ray Hudson, a cool guy himself.

The topic was how attractive the south florida lifestyle The most famous athletes In the world every offseason. This included Messi owning several properties in the Miami area, which has long played a major role in speculation that perhaps one day he might choose to play in Major League Soccer and make the US his home for a while.

Hudson, who has played against Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer, always thought Miami would tempt Messi.

“It was a great atmosphere. It’s a feeling. Hudson told me about the attraction of Miami. “It’s a great mix of all things.”

This is a great combination that Hudson boasted of having Lionel Messi permanently added to it. Messi, who will turn 36 in two weeks, announced Wednesday that he intends to sign with Inter Miami from MLS. By choosing life in the United States, Messi is trying to get something he hasn’t achieved since before as a young Albury in FC Barcelona’s academy system: a place far out of the limelight.

In an interview with Mundo Deportivo on Wednesday night after announcing his plans to sign with Miami, Messi declared that: “More than that after winning the World Cup, which is what I needed to finish my career in this side and live in the United States. In a different way and enjoy everyday life more than so much.”

Rather than accept what was offered as a billion-dollar two-year package in Saudi Arabia, instead of once again exposing himself to the trauma of his emotional departure from Barcelona in 2021, Messi will bring his family to Miami to try and soak. In this final phase of his football career. It’s a moment all elite athletes reach, where they know inwardly that it’s time to chase an alternate ending, one over which they have more control.

But in making this decision, Messi gave himself a measure of measure Control football in America also. Or, at least, eventually he will — she’s waiting for some very important signings at different levels with different companies. Colleagues in the athlete I reported earlier this weekMessi will take a cut of the revenue from both MLS and Apple TV+ and watch his main sponsor Adidas play a role in his arrival in South Florida. He would definitely be the highest paid player in league history.

He’s coming on because he’s still Lionel Messi, but he’ll need to mine a new version of himself. Leaving the comforts he cultivates behind suggests that he’s open to the idea that he might need to tap into something new, something beyond his dominant left foot: being a salesman on a consistent day-to-day basis. This historical package has its requirements. This is not Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard on their last leg – these are Messi’s main incentives to expand his brand and sport in the United States.

In some ways, it will be the ultimate test for the most famous athlete still on his way, who has also described himself as an introvert. The walls he has erected over the years will also be tested here. Would he want to play a car wash for late night TV appearances the way Beckham and Zlatan did before? Does he want to help sell the sport ahead of North America hosting the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup? Will he still play at that time? And while his connection to the massive Spanish-speaking population of the United States would be immediate and invaluable, how would he cross the language barrier when, up to this point, he had rarely (and rarely been asked to) speak English in public? Does that language barrier even matter when this might matter Lionel Messi we are talking about?

The level of access that sports journalists have in the US is markedly different than anywhere Messi has played before. Messi (depending on whether and how MLS rewrites its media policy in his favor) may have to address reporters several times a week. He may have to contend with them in a cramped visitors locker room in a suburb of Denver or in the bowels of a Seattle football field. How many different ways can he answer the same questions about how good (or not so good) MLS is playing?

A Major League Soccer executive told me on Wednesday that Messi’s arrival couldn’t be less than the selling price. “Obviously with what happened with David Beckham (in 2007) and the eyeballs he brought in, it was a turnaround for the league,” said the executive, who was not allowed to speak about signing Messi because he was not officially finalized with the league. “Messi stirs it all up across the board. We’ve all heard Commissioner (Don) Garber talk about being a league favorite and all that stuff. That, on some level, is some validation of that.”

Two weeks before he stepped onto the podium in August 2021 and said goodbye to the club as he turned out to be the most admired player, Messi was at one of his vacation homes in Miami. Its title was released, in a way, and fans gathered outside. The walls of the pearly white complex were high, but in the end, Messi opened the front gate to let his fans in for a few seconds.

Messi has shown an incredible ability to make the structures around him conform to him. Can he woo America on his terms? Behind every athlete is a story and we are obsessed with their stories because stories make them timeless. How does the immortal enjoy a midweek game on a rainy night in Charlotte?

We’re about to find out.

(Top photo: JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)