By Canadian Press

Lionel Messi set to be unveiled by Inter Miami and Major League Soccer

Jul 16, 2023 | 2:31 PM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The stage is set. Lionel Messi is about to meet his new fans at Inter Miami.

An event billed as “The Unveil” is Sunday night at the team’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It comes one day after Messi, Major League Soccer and Inter Miami finalized his signing through the 2025 season.

It’s the start of a busy week of events for Messi with his new club. His first official training session that will be open to reporters is set for Tuesday and — if all goes to plan — he will play Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul. That could also be the Miami debut of World Cup winner Sergio Busquets, a Spanish midfielder who signed Sunday through the 2025 season.

Messi, a World Cup champion for Argentina and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s best player in a given year, is joining a club that has the fewest points in MLS and is mired in an 11-match winless streak. Inter Miami opened the season with two wins and has gone 3-14-3 since.

The club previously announced that Messi’s deal will be for 2 1/2 seasons and will pay him between $50 million and $60 million annually — putting the total contract value between $125 million and $150 million in cash alone.

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“That’s awesome,” Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said last month when Messi announced that he would be coming to MLS and joining Inter Miami. “Got another superstar. Big, big names out here in Miami. It’s good for the culture out here.”

There have been some big-time welcomes to stars coming to South Florida before. Shaquille O’Neal pulled up to the arena where the Miami Heat play in 2004 in an 18-wheeler and greeted the crowd by firing off water blasts from a super soaker. In 2010, LeBron James and Chris Bosh were welcomed to the Heat — Dwyane Wade stayed put as part of that massive summer — with a party that saw about 14,000 tickets get claimed in two hours and saw James famously say that he was coming for “not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven” championships.

While that became fuel for pundits, the rest of James’ quote from that moment is often forgotten: “I’m about business and we believe we can win multiple championships if we take care of business and do it the right way,” he said.

That Heat team won two championships. Inter Miami needs Messi to lead a massive turnaround just to get into playoff contention this season.

If anyone can do it, it’s Messi.

“He is the best soccer player to ever step on a pitch,” Heat guard Josh Richardson said.

Team officials planned for Messi to be available at a news conference Monday; it abruptly postponed that event Sunday afternoon for reasons it did not disclose.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press