Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami shook the footballing world, not only did the Argentine sign a massive lucrative contract, becoming the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer,

 it took five years for the Herons to complete the signing, ever before the club existed.

David Beckham revealed how he made the first approach to Messi’s father regarding his signature five years before the signing eventually became official last year. 

That’s right, even though Inter Miami only came into existence in 2018, it was around the same time that Beckham met Messi’s father in a hotel in Miami.

When the signing was eventually confirmed, Beckham was in Japan and he got an early morning call that left the legendary footballer in tears. 

His wife Victoria was beside David, and she initially thought somebody had passed away.

Little did she know that Inter Miami had just signed the ‘greatest player to have ever played the game’ in David Beckham’s words. The revelation came on the ‘This Life of Mine… with James Cordon’ wherein Cordon quizzed Beckham about his best recollection of the signing.

“The memory that I have chosen is the phone call that I got when I was in bed in Japan saying that Leo Messi was signing for Miami,” revealed the Manchester United and Real Madrid legend. When Cordon further quizzed Beckham, he revealed that Inter Miami’s co-owners, him and Jorge Mas ‘sneaked’ into a hotel in Miami to meet Messi’s father.

Watch David Beckham recalls Lionel Messi signing took five years to complete:

They agreed that while the ex-Barcelona forward wasn’t ready to move back then, they were hopeful of the signing once Leo had announced he was going to leave PSG.

Even after receiving the early morning call that Messi was signing for Inter Miami, David Beckham couldn’t believe that the move was soon going to be official. That’s why, he had urged Jorge Mas and his wife to be there at the airport to confirm that it was actually Messi and not his brother who joined the club.

“I said, ‘Okay, Jorge, you and your wife Aledya have to go to the airport. Be there for the moment that he gets off that plane, because it might be his brother. We might have signed his brother. This is Leo. It’s Messi; it’s the greatest player to ever have played our game,” recalled Beckham.

As it turns out, the signing of La Pulga has been rather successful for the Herons, who lifted their first piece of silverware last season and are currently sitting pretty atop the MLS’ Eastern Conference. Lionel Messi is currently nursing a hamstring issue, and he is expected to sit out Inter Miami’s next away game against NY Red Bulls on Saturday.

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Source: Los Angeles Times