Messi to Miami: What Will Happen?
By: Anthony Tazbaz
Image Credit: Tareq Ismail
Major League Soccer and North America hit the jackpot without needing to actually place a bet!
The one and only Lionel Messi (and arguably the greatest to every play the beautiful game) followed through with his desire to play in the United States by committing to MLS side Inter Miami.
This announcement came a week after confirmation that he would no longer play at PSG. After their final match of the season, his father Jorge, notified the public that he would make a decision in the coming week. His choices were FC Barcelona, Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia), and Inter Miami.
Despite having yet to officially sign a contract, here are some details and reasons behind his commitment to the American club:
FC Barcelona were willing to provide him a sizeable offer. However, this meant that the club would either have to offload several players or urge many players, both starting and role players, to take significant pay cuts. With Barcelona still needing to reportedly offload 250-270 million Euros to fall in place with La Liga's demands for their wage bill, Messi decided that returning to Barcelona would not be worth the risk that President Joan Laporta was willing to take.
Al-Hilal went as far as raising $1.6 billion to lure Messi. Despite being a sports ambassador for Saudi Arabia, however, Messi turned down the offer.
By signing with Miami, Messi can offer a very young club a chance to achieve new heights fairly quickly. His value outweighs that of his soon-to-be new club, who is valued at 34 million Euros versus Messi 45 million Euros. Currently 15th place - bottom of the Eastern Conference - at the halfway mark of the 2023 season, Miami desperately needs a spark. While this signing will benefit MLS in ways one can only dream of, Miami will need to do more for this signing to fully reap benefits on the field.
After watching Miami a couple of times this season and many times over the past few seasons, signing Messi cannot be the sole means to an end. If that is how owner David Beckham sees it, Miami will suffer the same fate as PSG did during Messi's tenure - mediocre results and disgruntled supporters, despite raking in enormous profits due to Messi just simply being there.
For years Miami elected to invest in current MLS stardom and veterans, while also recruiting aging stars as designated players (DPs), from Gonzalo Higuain to Blaise Matuidi. Speaking of which, both players failed to exceed expectations, with the latter failing to remotely meet them.
And I didn't even mention the two other DP cases: Rodolfo Pizarro and Matias Pellegrini. Pizarro was a monumental flop, whereas Pellegrini had to be shipped away due to violations of having more than the maximum amount of three designated players on the team. Ultimately, offloading Pellegrini was the worst possible option, as he is the only one remaining in this league and found a new home at New York City FC (NYCFC).
A Deeper Look Inside
While the MLS had its fair share of European stars who excelled in the league, it also had a sizeable cohort of players who fell miles short from meeting expectations, particularly in big markets similar to Miami who rely on such stardom.
NYCFC: Despite signing David Villa in time for their expansion season in 2015 - who excelled in the league for many seasons - world-class midfielders Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo both failed to meet the hype garnered across the league and in the Big Apple. In addition to sub-par stats, the club only made the MLS Cup playoffs once during both players' tenures at the club, which ended in a first-round exit.
LA Galaxy: While they literally became the pioneers of such blockbuster signings (e.g., David Beckham and Robbie Keane), the club also had several under-performers from across the pond, particularly former Premier League stars Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard. Nearing retirement, both players took their final paycheck and saw their final years of professional soccer without significant success in the MLS Cup playoffs. The very same is happening as we speak with Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez and Douglas Costa, both underperforming so far this season. While Hernandez performed well last season, this season seems to be a repeat of Giovanni Dos Santos' tenure at the club, one of misery and unfulfilled potential.
Other star players coming from Europe who suffered a similar fate include Toronto FC's Torsten Frings, Montréal's Alessandro Nesta, and Houston Dynamo's Philippe Senderos. However, the misfortune brought by these signings were either related to recurring injuries or the simple fact that the team around them was significantly sub-standard to MLS caliber.
Attention to Detail
The specifics of his contract have not yet been revealed because he has yet to sign one. Therefore, if he performs to a decent degree, but the club does not, he will place himself in the same category of unfulfilled potential as Toronto FC's Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernanrdeschi. Despite decent performances on a regular basis, both star players receive obscene wages for their levels of production, and not to mention the lack of team success.
Therefore, Messi will need a better support system than Miami currently has to offer. While Drake Callander is a top goalkeeper for MLS standards, the remainder of the team falls below playoff material.
While they acquired Canadian international defender Kamal Miller from CF Montréal in April to bolster their backline, Miami still faces similar issues in their own end. What's more, the duo of players sent to Montréal are excelling as starters, whereby Phil Neville could not get them to produce consistent minutes under his tactics.
Neville's dismissal also constitutes a step in the right direction. Former Atlanta United, Mexican National Team, and you guessed it… FC Barcelona coach Tata Martino is a front-runner for the head coaching job in South Beach.
If he were to be hired, Miami seriously needs to consider adopting Atlanta United's model used from 2017-2019. This entailed recruiting young, yet promising players, predominantly from South America, in addition to recruiting veterans from Europe and experienced MLS players, some of which already won the MLS Cup. As a result, Atlanta won the MLS Cup in only their second year in MLS.
The best part, Miami already has several ingredients for such a plan. They have significant experienced players in MLS and have none other than Joseph Martinez, the 2018 MLS Golden Boot and MVP winner at Atlanta. Despite having torn his ACL in 2020 and falling out of favour to younger talent in Georgia, his tenure in Miami could be a key piece to assembling an experienced and hungry championship-caliber team.
Bottom Line
In addition to young South American talent, Miami has enough money to secure contracts for another veteran European talent or two, and they have. These names include former FC Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, both of whom arrived on free transfers. Fellow countryman Angel Di María, who confirmed his departure from Juventus, recently rejected a move to Miami, favouring boyhood club SL Benfica .
If one, two or even three of those players were to be added to the squad, Miami would instantly become a championship contender. One betting source reported that Messi's move improves Miami's odds at winning the MLS Cup from as high as 200-1 to 50-1. With an addition of Di Maria and Busquets (I personally don't see as much of a need for Alba), the club can easily spring out of the Eastern Conference basement and qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs (the top nine clubs in each conference qualify).
Once qualified for the playoffs, anything can happen. However, Mr. Beckham - who is still in the learning process as a club owner and President - will quickly learn that investing in older talent and short-term success reduces the window of opportunity, while simultaneously increasing the risk of losing your fanbase.
He only needs to look at the last club for which he played, ironically the club who most recently employed Messi.
