PREVIEW

David Beckham 'always dreamed' of bringing Lionel Messi to Inter Miami. The Argentine player left Paris St-Germain at the end of the 2022-23 season to sign for the American side in a mega deal that runs until the end of 2025 after reportedly rejecting a deal from Saudi Arabia worth around $400 million. Speaking on Monday's episode of the SmartLess podcast, Beckham reflected on becoming the boss of the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner. ”My vision from day one, when I presented the team and tried to put the logo together and the colours, the last slide of the presentation to the creative guys was a picture of Messi in the Miami jersey, so my dream was always to bring him to our team." David Beckham / SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. ”I still can't believe it, every time someone turns around to me and says you have Messi in your team, it is surreal.” "To say we have probably the greatest player to have ever played the game, the most successful player to ever play the game, and he's playing in Miami in the MLS (Major League Soccer)." David Beckham / SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. Beckham, 49, revealed that Messi, 36, once told him he'd loved to live in Miami one day and that conversation "stuck in his head” because he wanted to make it happen if he ever got the chance to recruit a player of his calibre. And the time eventually came years before Messi made his Inter Miami debut in July 2023. ”It took a lot of time, we started the process four or five years before he came, I sneaked into his dad's hotel and said, 'I want to sign your son, I know he won't come now but at some point we want to bring him to Miami.'" David Beckham / SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. In response to Arnett asking about the growing interest from the Middle East, in reference to Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr in December 2022, Beckham said he could not believe Messi joined his club. ”A lot of players were wanting to go into Saudi at the time and he had a lot of offers, obviously, on the table but he's very clever, he knows what a massive market the U.S. market is, the opportunities that you can have..." David Beckham / SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. ”...and I think he also saw the life that me, the kids and my wife had in LA and you know that was his decision.” THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT