David Beckham said: “When we signed Messi, it was a gift for us. But at the same time, I also wanted to do something for American soccer. We knew Messi would be successful both on and off the field. We tried our best to help him have familiar friends around him, which is why we brought in Busquets, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and many others. The success of Inter Miami, also pushed MLS – the American professional soccer league, to rise dramatically.”

“Contrary to the comments that Messi came to America to retire. He is a winner, a winner in every aspect. Messi is very hungry for titles. He gets angry when the players do not do well, he is still angry when he loses a match.

And even when he’s not playing due to injury or other reasons, Messi still comes to the pitch to support his teammates even though he’s not required to. Messi is definitely the most dedicated and hungry player at his level that I’ve ever seen,” David Beckham said in a recent podcast with his friend and former teammate, Rio Ferdinand.

As an example of Messi’s dedication, David Beckham revealed about the Argentine’s first day of training at Inter Miami, when he arrived the first to prepare and was the last to leave.

“He arrived almost three hours earlier than everyone else. Three hours. Gym, warm-up, everything a young player should do when preparing for his first day at the club. At his level, Messi has the right to relax a little bit. But no, he has kept up the same routine and training routine until now. It’s unbelievable, but this also shows that Messi has maintained his form and class thanks to his hard work,” said David Beckham.

“There’s another thing that surprised me about Messi. He’s very good at teaching young players. He teaches most of the young players who come from our academy. He doesn’t make any player feel inferior to him. After every training session, few people know, but Messi is always the one who stays on the field to train and teach the young players. He often goes to watch the youth teams of the academy play,” David Beckham emphasized.

“I always dreamed of owning a football team. I never had the ambition to be a coach or manager of a club. I never thought I was good enough for that. So I wanted to have my own team. When I moved to America to play, and the opportunity to own a team came up at the end of my time at LA Galaxy, I took it. Then I decided to find a place to set up my team,” David Beckham shared.

When he moved to LA Galaxy in 2007, David Beckham had a franchise clause to form a team worth just $25 million after he retired.

The 49-year-old former player decided to activate the clause to realize his dream in 2014, after 4 years, he debuted at Inter Miami Club in January 2018 with 2 co-owners, billionaires Jorge Mas and Jose Mas. The value of this team has now exceeded 1.03 billion USD (up 72%) since the beginning of 2024.

“I was at LA Galaxy for six years and after traveling all over the United States, I realized there was no team in Miami. I always saw Miami as a city full of passionate people, with diversity, and I knew that in the future, when we had a team, I wanted the club to be able to attract the best players in the world.

This cherished dream has now completely become a reality. My decision to choose Miami was really the right one. And I am very happy with what I have achieved for Inter Miami and American football today,” David Beckham concluded.