Despite heavy rain and thunderstorms, 20,000 fans gathered Sunday in the stands to celebrate the introduction of Argentine star Lionel Messi to the fans of his new team, Inter Miami, to start a new stage in his career, in a move that the American League commissioner considered a “testimony” in the face of the Saudi revolution in the huge transfer and contracting market. .
Heavy tropical rains forced the organizers to delay the 36-year-old’s presentation ceremony, and fans were forced to seek shelter from inclement weather or wait in their cars.
After about two hours
The presentation ceremony for the former star of Barcelona, Spain, and Paris Saint-Germain, France, began about two hours later than originally scheduled.
Former England star David Beckham, the club’s co-owner, opened the ceremony, saying Messi’s arrival was “a dream come true”.
“Leo, we are very proud that you chose our club for the next stage in your career,” said the former Manchester United player, whose transfer to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 was one of the most prominent deals in the history of the American League, heading to the Qatar 2022 World Cup champion.
“Welcome to our Leo family,” he added in Spanish, to cheers from the crowd.
“This is our moment!”
In turn, the owner of the majority of the club’s shares, Jorge Mas, of Cuban origin, said, “Tonight is a gift and a celebration for the city that opened its arms to my family. Tonight we do this in the rain… This is holy water! This is our moment! Our moment to change the football scene in this country.”
Maas then introduced Messi as “your new number 10, America’s number 10”.
Messi, who arrived in Miami on Tuesday with his family, addressed the audience by saying, “Thank you very much to all the people for supporting me and giving me this love. I am very happy to be here in Miami.”
“I really want to start training, competing. I have the same competitive desire I’ve always had, the desire to win, to help the club continue to grow. I’m very happy that I chose to come to play in this city with my family, that I chose this project. I don’t mind.” No doubt we will enjoy it a lot, we will have a good time and very good things will happen.”
On Saturday, Messi signed a contract with Inter Miami until 2025, with the ambition to continue building “this beautiful project,” he said.
Messi, whose transfer deal is estimated at $ 60 million annually, will be the most prominent name ever to move to the American League since the Brazilian jewel Pele, who arrived in the New York Cosmos in 1975.
His arrival is expected to boost the number of new subscribers to the MLS season card on the Apple TV platform. Ticket prices for matches in which he is likely to participate have also increased.
He was joined by his former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets, while Argentine Gerardo “Tata” Martino, coach of the national team and former Catalan club, will supervise the team.
Saudi spending will not hinder the plans of “MLS” –
American League Commissioner Don Garber saw Messi’s decision to join Inter Miami as a “message” to the Saudis who spend a lot of money to include big stars in the country’s league, most notably the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nasr club last season before his former colleague at Real Madrid joined him this summer. French striker Karim Benzema.
And Garber considered that the large Saudi spending would not hinder the plans of the “MLS” league to attract great global attention after Messi’s arrival.
He said that he was not concerned about the Saudi competition in including veteran stars who were a possible target for the “MLS” league, adding, “I saw this happen with China (which attracted many stars for a period) and I was not worried about that and I will not worry either about what is happening in Saudi Arabia, on the contrary.
“The fact that we can spread the power and influence of professional football around the world gives us all an opportunity in emerging markets. It’s not just about Europe (where the superstars play), right? It’s also about here (the MLS). So I’m I don’t feel any threat (from the Saudi League)… It’s just something extra in this really complicated business that we’re in, and we’ll be able to handle it and I think we’ll be fine.”
With the arrival of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, the MLS, along with its partner Apple TV, hopes to generate revenue by selling subscriptions to the league worldwide.
Garber said that the league, whose matches are broadcast in Spanish and some in French, in addition to English, of course, is considering introducing other languages to expand the attractiveness of broadcasting.
And he believed that “+MLS+ has an opportunity to continue to be a bigger, wider and more valuable player on the world football stage … The league is important, it includes 30 teams and its value is estimated at 15 billion dollars … When I took my job it was 250 million dollar”.
“You’ve heard us say that we want MLS to be a favorite league for players, for fans, for partners and ultimately for investors.”
And he concluded, “When the best player in history decides to choose the American Football League, I think that is a true testament to the place that MLS has reached and where it is heading in the coming years.”
2023-07-17 09:58:10
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