Sunday is the day Lionel Messi will finally be unveiled as an Inter Miami star after the club made the news official on Saturday ahead of the presentation.
The World Cup winner will be presented in front of a sold-out stadium on Sunday afternoon and the occasion will go down as the biggest in the history of the MLS as the World’s greatest-ever footballer arrives in the United States.
Ahead of the special day for the city of Miami and America as a whole, Messi met one of his bosses, David Beckham, and the pair were caught on camera sharing a hug.
The acquisition of Lionel Messi marks the biggest arrival in the history of Major League Soccer, despite there being a handful of star players joining the league previously. But Messi is on another level. He is arguably the biggest sports star on the planet, and his impact was felt immediately upon the news breaking that he would be playing for Miami.
Demand for tickets and their prices skyrocketed, and Inter Miami CF’s social media accounts ballooned. Within 24 hours of the Messi news breaking, the club’s Instagram account grew from 1 million followers to 5 million. It currently sits at over 8 million at time of writing.
It took some time for things to become official. The first announcements were made back on June 7th, but the signing wasn’t confirmed until yesterday, July 15th. But the stage is set, and there is expected to be a packed house for the introduction event.
But hours before the event was scheduled to take place, Messi was already in his new kit and mingling with some of the elites at the event.
David Beckham is one of the comparisons to Lionel Messi when it comes to a soccer giant joining the MLS. Beckham did so back in 2007 when he joined the LA Galaxy, a move that enabled him a future ownership stake. That stake turned into Inter Miami CF, to which Beckham is now a co-owner. He met up with Messi ahead of the event during what looked like a photo shoot.
