Inter Miami

Lionel Messi is officially a member of Inter Miami.

The club posted a hype video on Twitter announcing the signing of the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner.

When former Paris St Germain head coach Christophe Galtier confirmed in June that Messi was leaving the club, a bidding war to sign the legendary player was expected to break out.

ESPNs Mark Ogden reported in April Messi was considering an offer from Al Hilal of the Saudi Professional League. Al Nassr, Al Hilal's city rival in Riyadh, signed Cristiano Ronaldo in December.

Instead, Messi elected to sign with Inter Miami in a deal that Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald reported is worth between $125 million and $150 million for two-and-a-half years with an option for 2026.

Per Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen, Messi also has revenue-sharing agreements with Apple and Adidas. Apple signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion streaming rights deal with MLS in 2022. Messi's deal gives him a share of the money from new subscribers who sign up for MLS Season Pass.

The hype over Messi's move to the United States reached a new level on Tuesday when he and his family arrived in Florida. The 36-year-old is adjusting quickly to his new surroundings by shopping for groceries at a Publix.

Inter Miami has announced a major unveiling event at DRV PNK Stadium on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. Kaufman reported earlier Saturday the club is increasing security and adding more seating and VIP areas in anticipation of Messi's introduction.

Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas has said the club is targeting its July 21 game against Cruz Azul for Messi's debut.

Messi will join Lothar Matthaus, Hristo Stoichkov and Kaká as the only Ballon d'Or winners to play in MLS.

Lionel Messi still has yet to sign a contract with Inter Miami to make his move to MLS official, according to The Athletic's Paul Tenorio.

Tenorio reported Messi's contract is in the "final stages of the legal process."

"The contract was expected to be signed imminently and the team is planning to officially announce Messi in a press release ahead of an event Sunday in which Messi will be unveiled to fans at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida," he wrote.

It's almost impossible to foresee any sort of U-turn at this stage.

Inter Miami teased a "major unveiling event" to come this Sunday, and work is already underway to expand DRV PNK Stadium.

Tenorio reported Messi underwent a medical and completed promotional photo and video shoots ahead of his formal debut.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has already committed to suiting up for Inter Miami. If he were to leave, what would he do with all of those groceries?

Inter Miami has been preparing the ground for his arrival as well.

The club hired Gerardo Martino, who coached Messi at Barcelona and with the Argentina national team, as manager to replace Phil Neville. Barça legend Sergio Busquets is all but certain to be reuniting with his former teammate.

The protracted negotiations speak almost entirely to the complex nature of Messi's contract.

Per The Athletic, the 36-year-old will gain an equity stake of Inter Miami after he retires. He's also expected to collect a portion of the revenue from Apple TV's MLS Season Pass subscriptions along with other revenue-sharing deals from some of the league's commercial partners.

Altogether, Messi will be bringing in around $50-60 million per year.

Being a world-class athlete doesn't mean you don't need groceries from a local establishment, as Lionel Messi can attest to.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner had a viral moment Thursday when he was photographed with a shopping cart full of food at a Publix in Miami.

Publix is an employee-owned supermarket chain with headquarters in Lakeland, Florida.

Messi, of course, will be spending a lot of time in Florida after surprising most of the world when he announced on June 7 he would be playing in MLS for Inter Miami. The move came after his two-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain expired.

The 36-year-old and his family touched down in South Florida earlier this week to complete his transfer to Inter Miami.

Per Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen, Messi's two-and-a-half-year deal with the club is worth $50 to $60 million per year before factoring in revenue-sharing agreements with Adidas and Apple.

While there's certainly a lot of anticipation about Messi's arrival in the United States, the wait for his Inter Miami debut will last a little bit longer. Club owner Jorge Mas told reporters they are targeting July 21 against Liga MX's Cruz Azul in a Leagues Cup match.

Perhaps not coincidentally, that's also the first date of the team's next home game since Messi landed in the United States. Inter Miami is traveling to CITYPARK for a regular-season MLS matchup against St. Louis on Saturday.

In the meantime, fans can start hanging out at one of the Publix locations in Miami to give themselves an opportunity to take a selfie with the former FIFA World Player of the Year winner.

DRV PNK Stadium is the house that Lionel Messi built.

Well OK, not quite. The facility existed before the Argentine superstar chose to sign with the club. But Inter Miami has made the decision to add 3,000 more seats to the stadium to satisfy the interest in watching Messi play, per multiple reports, which should raise capacity to around 21,000 spectators.

So... the house that Messi renovated?

Doesn't have quite the same ring. But Inter Miami are wisely trying to maximize the crowds that can see the G.O.A.T. in action.

As The Athletic noted, "Tickets to see the 36-year-old's debut for the club are almost completely sold out, including tickets for the newly-built sections of the stadium which were available for $200 each. However, tickets for two of the new stands are still available for July 21."

One thing to remember is that DRV PNK Stadium is a placeholder for Inter Miami until the 25,000-capacity Miami Freedom Park is completed, which is expected to be done in time for the 2025 season. Perhaps we can call that structure the house that Messi funded.

Two weeks away from his first MLS game with Inter Miami, Lionel Messi could be the subject of some backlash from fellow players in the league due to his status and financial standing.

In fact, one anonymous MLS coach told The Athletic's Pablo Maurer referees should give Messi "the (Michael) Jordan treatment" and give him "every single call."

Maurer pointed out a 2008 incident when David Beckham, who was playing with the LA Galaxy at the time, was on the receiving end of a high-speed tackle by Adrian Serioux of FC Dallas.

Former MLS referee Baldomero Toledo explained to Maurer officials did go out of their way to make sure Beckham was being protected at the request of his teammates: "(Beckham's) teammates, they wanted to make sure we protected him, as a player. If something happened, we needed to be ready to react within the game."

Serioux, who was given a red card for the play and received a $1,000 fine from the league, openly admitted to targeting Beckham while speaking to reporters about the incident:

"His salary and lifestyle has a lot of players thinking, `We've dedicated our lives to the game and will have nothing to retire on.' He's great for the MLS but me and a few others are going after him—he's made us feel unappreciated. If Beckham can't handle it, he can play ping-pong or tennis. There'll be no line to cross with him, I don't have a line. If he's on the ball, he's there to be hit hard. Coach Steve Morrow brought me in as an enforcer. I don't take any nonsense, whether they're rookies or big-time Galacticos."

Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007 on a deal that paid him $6.5 million per year in base salary and a percentage of the team's revenue.

According to Maurer, Serioux was making around $100,000 per year with Dallas and the MLS minimum salary at that time was $12,900.

Messi, arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport, left Paris Saint-Germain earlier this year to sign a two-year deal with Miami that will pay him close to $60 million per year between his own salary, a signing bonus and a stake in the franchise.

The agreement doesn't include Messi's potential earnings through sponsorship deals.

Per Paul Tenorio, Tom Bogert and Jeff Rueter of The Athletic, the average MLS salary for the 2023 season is $530,262 and Xherdan Shaqiri of the Chicago Fire was the highest-paid player at $8.15 million before Messi's agreement.

The addition of Messi in MLS should continue to raise the profile of a league that continues to grow in popularity after setting a new attendance record with more than 10 million fans at games in 2022.

Given the investment Inter Miami and the MLS have in Messi, there's every reason for referees to keep a close eye on how opponents play against him to make sure the biggest star isn't being subjected to cheap shots if there is any resentment over his arrival in the United States.

Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas has said Messi is expected to debut for the team on July 21 against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.

Lionel Messi's decision to join Inter Miami and MLS was the culmination of a yearslong sales pitch, according to club co-owner Jorge Mas.

"In 2019, we started thinking about how we could bring him," he said to Spanish newspaper El País (via Adriana Garcia of ESPN).

Mas explained how club officials were working "very intensely" for a year-and-a-half, and they had "many conversations" with Jorge Messi, Messi's father and agent. World football legend David Beckham, who's another a co-owner of Inter Miami, spoke with Messi directly as well.

Mas told the outlet the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner will earn around £50 million to £60 million annually on his contract.

Messi hasn't officially signed with Inter Miami but signaled in June he intends to leave Europe behind and play in the United States.

The Athletic's Paul Tenorio, Felipe Cardenas and Pablo Maurer detailed the efforts made to entice the 36-year-old, which include giving him a potential cut of the money MLS and broadcast partner Apple collect from new Season Pass subscriptions.

Messi will also be the subject of a four-part documentary series on Apple+, which was announced at almost exactly the same time he made his commitment to Inter Miami.

Mas emphasized to El País how Apple entering the frame broadly had a meaningful impact on the Messi sweepstakes.

"The Apple contract was very important to close the deal," he said.

Mas has said Inter Miami are tentatively expecting Messi to make his full debut July 21 in a Leagues Cup fixture against Liga MX side Cruz Azul. The club has continued to lay the foundation for his arrival with the hiring of coach Gerardo Martino and signing of midfielder Sergio Busquets.

Lionel Messi will be joined by a familiar face at Inter Miami CF.

The club announced the signing of midfielder Sergio Busquets, who was a teammate of Messi's with Barcelona.

Busquets has been with Barcelona since 2008 and suited up for 481 La Liga games with the club, scoring 11 goals. This will be the first time in his senior career that he has played with a different club. He was a teammate of Messi's with Barcelona for 13 years.

Busquets, who is also a member of Spain's national team, is a close friend of Messi's and had announced that he would be leaving Barcelona in May. He was rumored to be mulling a move to Saudi Arabia, but mirrors the move from his former teammate in going to Miami.

Jordi Alba, another Barcelona teammate of Busquets and Messi, also is a potential target for Inter Miami, so the pipeline may not be dry just yet.

The 34-year-old's contract has not yet been disclosed, although the length is reportedly two-years. A debut for him has not been announced, but with Messi's reported debut being July 21st, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Busquets could be with him.

Inter Miami FC is currently 5-0-12 and in last place in MLS.

A trip to the zoo is generally supposed to be a relaxing way to spend an afternoon, but that was anything but the case for Inter Miami goalkeeper Nick Marsman.

As TMZ Sports noted, Marsman's wife, Nathalie den Dekker, revealed on social media that the goalkeeper was hospitalized for three days after he was bitten by a poisonous spider at a zoo. He has since been released and is recovering at home.

TMZ Sports added that it's unclear how much time Marsman will miss.

The 32-year-old is the backup goalkeeper for Inter Miami and is behind Drake Callender on the depth chart. He hasn't made any starts this season but started seven games last year and 22 games in 2021 for the club.

Inter Miami, which made international headlines with the addition of Lionel Messi this year, is set to face the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

The team is in last place in the MLS' Eastern Conference table with 15 points.

Lionel Messi will make his Inter Miami debut this summer.

The club's managing owner, Jorge Mas, told reporters on Monday that the superstar was expected to first appear against Cruz Azul during a Leagues Cup matchup on July 21.

Mas revealed other information about Messi's deal on Monday, noting that is worth between $50 and $60 million per season, on average, over the next 2.5 years. It also includes an option for 2026.

The deal is not officially finalized, with details to be sorted through, but the two sides have agreed in principle on the terms.

Additionally, the superstar forward received an ownership stake in the club and has upcoming deals with Apple and Adidas, and possibly Fanatics as well.

And Messi will be bringing some of his friends with him. Per Mas, the plan is to sign Sergio Busquets as the club's designated player immediately, while the plan is to sign between three to five of his former teammates this summer.

Mas said Messi didn't specify any players for the club to pursue, however.

Bringing Messi aboard is an enormous coup for both Inter Miami and Major League Soccer. Even at 35 he remains an exceptional talent, scoring 16 goals and adding 16 assists in 32 club games for Paris Saint-Germain last season.

He'll face far less talented competition during MLS play, and if his body doesn't break down—a possibility given his age in such a physically demanding sport—he'll be expected to absolutely dominate.

He joins a long list of superstars who dominated in European football before coming to the United States, including MLS appearances from players like Thierry Henry, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, among others.