Inter Miami president Jorge Mas has confirmed that he and co-owner David Beckham want to bring Lionel Messi to the club and are ‘very optimistic’ that a deal can be done in the future.
Messi is entering his second season with Paris Saint-Germain, where he had a somewhat underwhelming debut campaign.
He has just turned 35 but Mas still believes he is the best player on the planet and hopes to convince him to join one day.
When asked about bringing Messi to the club, Mas said: ‘Well, look, both David Beckham and I aspire to bring the best players in the world here to Miami, not only because of the project we are creating.
The Argentine star is staying in Serie A and swapping Roma for Juventus.
‘We want to be the point of reference for soccer in the United States, but when you talk about the best players in the world, Leo is obviously the best player on the planet.
‘Hopefully the conditions will be met for him to be there, playing with the United States Inter Miami jersey. We aspire to that.
‘I hope the circumstances are given. We have nothing guaranteed, there is no agreement, but I am a very optimistic man and I hope that in the future Leo Messi can be part of our project.’
He added: ‘There are a lot of Catalans here: there is Xavi Asensi, Víctor Oliver, who has just arrived here from Barcelona to bring up topics for the future.
‘We are going to build a new stadium… I was with Laporta last night for a long time. And nothing, it is an honour to see clubs of the category of Barcelona here and it is what I aspire to, that Inter Miami has close relations with this type of club.’