“I never thought I would have the same feeling as an owner as I had when I was a player,” Beckham said in his interview with The Athletic, on how he felt when Messi had chosen to join Miami over other options.
“When I got the phone call, I had the feeling I had when I walked out at Old Trafford or Wembley. I was like, ‘We’ve just beaten all competition to sign the greatest player to ever play our game’.”
“It all came from a conversation over a glass of wine at dinner,
“I turn to Jorge [Lionel Messi’s father] and say, ‘One day, we need Messi to come to our club’. It was probably when we first met… That was 10 years ago. So it was always in my mind.
David Beckham revealed that the move had been in place since 2019 following a secret meeting the pair had in Barcelona.
“We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly,” explained Beckham.
“We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi (Lionel’s father and also his agent) and started the conversation. It purely went, ‘We would love your son to play for our team one day. We know he can’t come yet, but one day we would love to have Leo in Miami’.
“Then obviously Jorge (Mas) did an incredible job creating a narrative around what he could do for the sport in this country, what he could do for MLS and what he could do for Inter Miami.”
“Obviously, they (the Glazers) have achieved a lot, and financially, the fact we’re even talking about the numbers of what Manchester United will sell for shows the success they’ve had. But there needs to be change. We’ve all seen that, we all know that.”
The Manchester United legend also hints that owning the Old Trafford side might not be far ahead for him.
Speaking on the criticisms he faced over his endorsement of the Qatar world cup despite international rifts between the Arab nation and the West as regards human rights issues, Beckham explained his stance, saying;
“I saw that as an opportunity. Firstly, to be involved in another World Cup. Secondly, Qatar is a relatively young country, it’s on a journey and there’s change.
“What comes with hosting a World Cup brings change. The Qataris said from day one, ‘Everybody is welcome’. I came away after the final thinking, ‘This is possibly one of the safest World Cups I’ve been to’.
“I spoke to people from the LGBTQ community. I was comfortable with the decision I made to get involved because I always feel that to make change you have to communicate, you have to engage.”
