Lionel Messi will arrive at Inter Miami with no shortage of fanfare this month. The Argentine superstar will join Major League Soccer at the end of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, and already the impact of his presence is being felt.
His debut is likely to fall on the 21st of July according to Onda Cero, when Inter Miami take on Cruz Azul in the ‘Leagues Cup’, a competition which pits MLS sides against their Liga MX counterparts. The MLS transfer window opens on the 5th of July, and Inter Miami have two games between that date and their fixture with Cruz Azul. Those come against DC United on the 8th and Saint Louis City on the 14th, but it is unlikely that he would make his debut away from home.
Tickets for that match are reportedly going for a minimum of $400 (€372), but some tickets are already being resold by fans, the top end of which reaching over $9k (€8.359).
This is likely a small taste of the mania that Messi might cause in Miami, dubbed by some as the ‘centre of the Latin world’. Messi’s impact in total remains to be seen, but perhaps already it is fair to compare it to the arrivals of Pele or David Beckham.
