David Beckham says covert meetings across ten years sealed Lionel Messi deal

The England legend and MLS franchise owner achieved one of his career dreams in July, bringing arguably football's greatest-ever player to Florida.

Signing Messi on a free transfer after the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain, things have so far gone swimmingly for the Argentina World Cup-winning captain.

Three goals in two games for Inter Miami saw Beckham in tears, while the DRV PNK Stadium contained huge names such as LeBron James and Serena Williams for his debut.

Likely the league's biggest-ever signing, or at least biggest ever since Beckham himself joined LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, Messi's arrival was planned even before Inter Miami existed.

Beckham explained to The Athletic that he told Miami owner Jorge Mas that they needed to bring Messi in during their first-ever meeting, and that shirts were mocked up ten years ago.

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Then came trips to Spain before Messi had even left for PSG.

"We got on a plane and flew to Barcelona from London secretly," Beckham explained. "We snuck into a hotel, met Jorge Messi [Lionel's father and 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."

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Beckham added: "He saw this as a project, a legacy and I don't think many players see that.

"They see the opportunity to play in different places, but Leo saw he could not just change the face of football in this country, he could inspire the next generation and there's no better way of doing that than by walking on our pitch in Miami and having all of the kids talking about him, watching and learning.

"He's also about making this game bigger and better in this country — he could do that, he will do that and he already has done that. It's not just the whole of Miami talking about Leo, it's the whole of America, the whole world."

Beckham, who was seen full of emotion during Messi's debut, a 2-1 win over Cruz Azul, discussed just how much the move meant to him.

Despite captaining England and playing for a number of the world's biggest teams, Beckham said the deal was 'without a doubt' one of the best moments of his life.

Recalling the moment, he said: "I was in Japan with the family and woke up at 5am because my phone kept vibrating.

"My wife was like, 'Really?! Turn your phone off!'. I look on my phone and I'm like, 'What's happened? Something's happened!'.

"I put my glasses on and I'm like, 'Leo's coming! It's done! He has announced it!'. My wife was like, 'What do you mean he has announced it?'. I said, 'He has gone on TV and said he's coming to Inter Miami!'.

"I get goosebumps talking about it.

I phoned Jorge (Mas) straight away and got emotional because I know what we've gone through over the last few years.

"Trying to build this club, the obstacles, the challenges — trying to get land (to build a stadium), going to legal battles… for all of the problems we've had, this one moment changed everything.

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"It changed our whole club. Once Victoria woke up properly, she hugged me, and that's when I got emotional again.

"I have come in every single morning at 7.30am to just see him — to just know it's real."