Inter Miami owner David Beckham has revealed just how long he had been working on recruiting Lionel Messi before finally landing the Argentine's signature this summer.
Messi left Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer last month and had the option to return to former employers Barcelona, who were pushing incredibly hard to secure a reunion, but the 36-year-old ultimately opted to take his talents to Major League Soccer instead.
"I never thought I would have the same feeling as an owner as I had when I was a player," Beckham told The Athletic. "When I got the phone call, I had the feeling I had when I walked out at Old Trafford or Wembley. I was like, 'We’ve just beaten all competition to sign the greatest player to ever play our game'."
Beckham opened up on his long-standing dream to sign Messi, which began ten years ago and started stepping up in the past few seasons.
"It all came from a conversation over a glass of wine at dinner, Beckham recalled. "I turn to Jorge [Mas, Miami co-owner] and say, 'One day, we need Messi to come to our club'. It was probably when we first met.
"I actually found on my phone the other day one of the first presentations that [advertising agency] Doubleday & Cartwright did - they mocked up one of the jerseys with the logo on and Leo was wearing it. That was ten years ago. So it was always in my mind. I suppose every owner of a sports franchise thinks, 'We want to bring the best players to our club'. Does it happen for everyone? Of course not. But we were sat at dinner and we were like, 'OK, if we could bring Leo for our market, for our fans, for this part of the world, there’s no one better'."
READ MORE ON LIONEL MESSI'S MOVE TO INTER MIAMI
Revealing a secret meeting with the superstar in Barcelona in September 2019, Beckham continued: "We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly. We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi 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 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."
Despite a strong push to sign Messi this summer, there was still an awareness from Beckham that a deal may have been impossible to pull off and the former England midfielder recalled his shock at learning that Miami had won the race.
"I was in Japan with the family and woke up at 5am because my phone kept vibrating," he said. "My wife was like, 'Really?! Turn your phone off!'.
"I look on my phone and I’m like, 'What’s happened? Something’s happened!'. I put my glasses on and I’m like, 'Leo’s coming! It’s done! He has announced it!'. My wife was like, 'What do you mean he has announced it?'. I said, 'He has gone on TV and said he’s coming to Inter Miami!'. I get goosebumps talking about it.
"I phoned Jorge [Mas] straight away and got emotional because I know what we’ve gone through over the last few years. Trying to build this club, the obstacles, the challenges - trying to get land, going to legal battles… for all of the problems we’ve had, this one moment changed everything. It changed our whole club. Once Victoria woke up properly, she hugged me, and that’s when I got emotional again.
"I have come in every single morning at 7.30am to just see him — to just know it’s real."
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss the sensational developments around Kylian Mbappe and Saudi Arabia, Harry Kane's Tottenham future after intervention from the club's owners, Mohammed Kudus, Bernardo Silva, Conor Gallagher & more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
This article was originally published on 90min as David Beckham reveals how Inter Miami signed Lionel Messi.
