How the million dollar Messi factor is kicking in

Lionel Messi is preparing to kick off  in Major League Soccer, in the United States, on July 21. Before he has kicked a ball, the millionaire footballer and Ballon d’Or winner has already given the US game a financial shot in the arm, according to a leading New York investment bank focussed on football.

The deal of a lifetime. 

Messi – who was earning $45 million a year at Paris Saint-Germain in France– could earn between $125 and $150 million over the next two-and-a-half years as a player for David Beckham’s Inter Miami CF in Florida; a team currently bottom of its league.

Reports say the multi-million dollar contract for  Messi is a complex deal of salary, bonuses and equity, backed by major sponsors Apple and Adidas. It is a deal structured in a bid to comply – the cynics may say get around – strict salary caps in the MLS.

“I think everyone is excited-  An Le”

An Le, is responsible for capital raising and valuation transactions for the specialist football investment bank Inner Circle Sports. He spoke to us from New York about how the Messi factor is already being felt.  

 “I think everyone is excited. It is a player who has recently won the Ballon d’Or and is going to bring a lot of eyeballs globally at a very important time for the MLS with their Apple deal and the media partnership. They are thinking about the new subscribers they can bring in globally and not only in the US,” says Le.

“You are also seeing, in the attendance numbers, both home and away matches for Inter Miami, right now, are virtually sold out…Outside of that, it will mean elevating the level of play across the league. People understand that prior to this next World Cup, a lot of investment is going to be needed in terms of the playing squad; in terms of sales-marketing. Lionel Messi’s competitors are also going to push that a little bit further.”

New coach to put Messi through his paces. 

A key part of the Messi deal is that the 36-year-old player must stay fit to please the growing crowds in the MLS who have already put down their hard-earned cash to watch him.

Many fans have long voiced their concern that world-class players only arrive in the MLS in their twilight years and an unfit Messi would spell disaster.

With this in mind, Inter Miami CF has appointed an experienced coach and former Mexico manager Tata Martino. Messi played under Martino at Barcelona and Argentina.

On his way to Miami, Messi took time out in his homeland of Argentina. He played a testimonial for his former teammate Juan Roman Riquielme at the La Bombonera home of Boca Juniors.  

Messi as a TV actor?

Messi also took time out to make a surprise appearance in a comedy-drama on television in Argentina – a hint of what the great man may do when his playing days are over.

The show was called The Protectors – the story of three football agents trying to evade bankruptcy.  In the TV scene, one of the agents proposes a ludicrous business deal to Messi that would see him play for a different Argentinian club each day – in alphabetical order!

In the scene, Messi replies to the agent:” Well, it seems you are uneducated.”

In real life, Messi has smarter agents who brokered one of the biggest and most lucrative deals in the history of world football. 

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