When David Beckham arrived in the MLS back in 2007, he sent shockwaves throughout North America. Now that the English soccer legend co-owns an MLS club of his own, he could be aiming to pull off a transfer that would easily eclipse his initial move to Los Angeles.
Monday, Beckham and his fellow investors officially announced their new MLS franchise in Miami. Although the team won't officially join the league until 2020, they may already have their first major signing lined up. Following the announcement, soccer icon Lionel Messi sent a congratulations to Beckham in which he also suggested that he may be interested in hearing from Beckham a few years down the line.
"Hi David, first of all congratulations, I hope all goes well with the new project, in this new step you are taking and who knows, in a few years maybe you will give me a call." - Marca (translation)
Wow. Just wow. Now obviously this is all just hypothetical, and Messi cheekily suggested that he would be interested in hearing from Beckham in the future, that is still huge news for the league. Lionel Messi -- who is arguably the greatest soccer player that has ever lived -- just hinted that he may be interested in joining the MLS.
Of course, one thing to remember is that Messi just signed a new contract with Barcelona back in December which gave him the highest salary in the sport ($35.8 million). The deal, which runs through 2021, also set his buyout clause at $835 million. So, if he were interested in joining Miami, it would likely have to be then, and not in 2020. Unless the two clubs were able to reach some form of agreement, which seems rather unlikely.
A signing like that would be absolutely monumental for the league, and if Messi were somehow able to join Miami's franchise in their first season in 2020, he would still be just be 32 years of age. For context, Cristiano Ronaldo is currently 32 years old and although he's had a rocky start to this season, he is still just coming off a Ballon d'Or winning season.
