Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Roster missing Nos. 10 and 5. Coincidence? Or is it a clue?
Inter Miami kicked off its 2023 season with a win over CF Montreal Saturday night and keen observers may have noticed that no Miami player is wearing shirt No. 10 or No. 5.
Those are the numbers worn by Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets, both of whom have been in serious talks with Miami about a potential summer move to the club after their contracts expire at the end of June.
Is it merely a coincidence that Miami’s No. 10 and No. 5 shirts are unclaimed, or is it a hint that the team is saving those numbers for the arrivals of Messi and Busquets? Gonzalo Higuain wore the No. 10 last season, but it remains free this season.
Another potential clue that the club is planning for the arrival of at least one high profile player in July is that Inter Miami single-game home tickets are available only for games through the June 3 matchup against D.C. United. If you try to buy a ticket through the club website/Ticketmaster for July, August, September, it says “In the works. Check back!”
Could it be that the club wants to wait to see if Messi is coming before it prices those tickets?
Maybe.
Asked how he manages his players knowing the roster could radically change this summer, coach Phil Neville told the Herald: “You’ve got to break the season down into two, really, from now until July, and then we know in July we have the potential to strengthen. But we can’t wait around, and say, ‘Oh, we’ll be ok in July.’ We’ve got to start well and get ourselves in position where in June, July if we bring players in they can add to what already is a good start to the season.”
Busquets, the 34-year-old Spaniard, is considered one of the greatest defensive midfielders of all time. His resume includes a World Cup title, a European championship, three Champions League titles and eight La Liga titles. The defensive midfielder position is not as glamorous as forward, but critical to a winning team.
His contract with Barcelona expires in June, and Busquets has been linked to a Miami move since last year.
The rumors heated up during the World Cup in Qatar, when he told Spanish outlet Cadena Sur: “I would like to have some certainty by February. I have always said I would like to play in the United States, above all in Miami, but from there I have not reached any agreement with any club — in the U.S. or in any other league. Barcelona will be the first to know. When I have made a decision, I will tell them.”
As for Messi, he is said to be considering whether to stay with Paris Saint Germain at least another year, return to Barcelona or join Inter Miami.
From a purely soccer perspective, it is hard to imagine Messi, coming off a World Cup title, leaving Europe for the United States.
But there may be more to his decision than league prestige. If he feels he has won everything there is to win in Europe, he may want his family to experience life in America, in Miami, a city in which he already owns a home and where he would be embraced by a huge, adoring South American population.
A move to MLS would help expand his brand and build on his already lucrative business portfolio as he heads toward the twilight of his career.
The 2026 World Cup is three years away and will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. Miami is one of the host cities. Surely, World Cup sponsors would love to have the best player in the world promoting their products from U.S. soil in the lead-up to the World Cup.
MLS and Apple just entered a 10-year, $2.5 billion global broadcast deal with a subscription service that will show all MLS games in more than 100 countries. It would behoove MLS and Apple to have Messi showcasing the league in an MLS uniform.
So, it would make sense that MLS and U.S. corporations might team up with Inter Miami to make Messi an unprecedented deal that would be hard to turn down, similar to what the league did to lure David Beckham. The deal might even involve ownership, as Beckham’s did.
Time will tell. In the meantime, those No. 10 and No. 5 shirts are on hold.