Messi seals deal as Arsenal snares Rice

Lionel Messi has finalized his deal to join Major League Soccer, and after years of planning and pursuing, Inter Miami has landed a global icon.

Messi's contract became official Saturday, a little more than five weeks after he declared that he would be coming to Inter Miami. The team was due to introduce him on Sunday night at its stadium in Fort Lauderdale, and the first home match of the Messi era could be as early as Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul.

A formal news conference was scheduled for Monday, and his first training session with his new club was expected on Tuesday. 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.

"BIENVENIDO 10," the team posted Saturday on Twitter.

Welcome, Messi, indeed.

"We are overjoyed that the greatest player in the world chose Inter Miami CF and Major League Soccer, and his decision is a testament to the momentum and energy behind our league and our sport in North America," MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. "We have no doubt that Lionel will show the world that MLS can be a league of choice for the best players in the game."

It is, in many ways, an unusual marriage. Messi — still perhaps the biggest star in the game — is signing with a team that entered Saturday in last place in the MLS' Eastern Conference standings. It's a club in just its fourth season that plays in a temporary home that will seat only about 22,000 people when some rushed renovations like adding extra bleacher seats get completed.

Doesn't matter. Soccer royalty now plays for Inter Miami.

Messi arrived in South Florida on Tuesday following vacation, then started the process of physicals and paperwork on Wednesday and the deal got finalized Saturday afternoon. The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner — the trophy given annually to the world's best player — is making his Miami move after two years with Paris Saint-Germain.

"I'm very excited to start this next step in my career with Inter Miami and in the United States," Messi said in a statement. "This is a fantastic opportunity and together we will continue to build this beautiful project. The idea is to work together to achieve the objectives we set, and I'm very eager to start helping here in my new home."

It was widely known that Messi would be leaving PSG. Some thought he eventually would choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, following longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo to a kingdom where some clubs now are funded by its sovereign wealth fund. Going back to Barcelona was another possibility.

In the end, Miami won. An idea that co-owner David Beckham began floating publicly in 2021 — two years before, evidently, the team actually started thinking about how to pull this off — has now become reality.

"After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the league of the United States to live football in another way," Messi said in June when announcing his decision.

Record transfer

Meanwhile, Declan Rice became the most expensive British player in history on Saturday as Arsenal signed the England midfielder from West Ham for a reported 105 million pounds ($137.5 million).

Rice's fee surpassed the previous record 100 million pounds that Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in 2021 as Arsenal continues its spending spree in a bid to challenge for the Premier League title next season.

The sum is just below the British record transfer fee Chelsea paid Benfica in January to bring Enzo Fernandez to Stamford Bridge for 106.8 million pounds.

Neither club officially announced the fee, but West Ham said it would receive a record transfer fee between two British clubs for Rice, 24.

Rice said in a farewell letter to West Ham supporters his desire to play at the "very highest level" lay behind his decision to join Arsenal.

His switch to the Emirates Stadium on a five-year contract comes after he lifted West Ham's first major trophy since 1980 in the Europa Conference League final.

Rice will now be competing for the Champions League rather than Europe's third-tier trophy.

"In football, amazing opportunities arise. Big clubs, like Arsenal, have come for me and it's really hard to turn down," Rice told Arsenal.com.

"You only ever get one career and I really believe in what Mikel (Arteta) is building here and the squad he's building. I'm really looking forward to the future with Arsenal."

Fueled by its failure to hold off champion Manchester City in the Premier League title race last term, Arsenal has already spent around 200 million pounds this summer.

Agencies