Social media reacts to Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami

Lionel Messi

Updated Jun. 7, 2023 3:11 p.m. ET

One of the most decorated soccer players in history is MLS-bound.

Lionel Messi — who has now accomplished everything imaginable in the sport after leading Argentina to a title in the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup last December — will join Inter Miami after leaving French club Paris Saint-Germain.

The arrival of the 35-year-old Messi dramatically shifts the paradigm in global soccer and provides a major boost to MLS and the sport in America as a whole, in advance of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, which the United States will co-host with Canada and Mexico.

The only comparable instance where a global soccer superstar joined MLS while still relatively near the peak of his career took place in 2007, when then-32-year-old David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy. Beckham is now a co-owner of Inter Miami.

[McIntyre: Lionel Messi to Inter Miami has potential to be game-changer for soccer in US]

Like Beckham’s deal — which included a future club ownership stake in what became Inter Miami — Messi’s deal reportedly includes several other revenue sources including cuts of the league’s partnership deals with Apple and Adidas.

The sports world had plenty of reactions to the news that Messi is America-bound, with everyone from Alexi Lalas to J.J. Watt weighing in. Here are some of the top reactions on social media to the news that changed the entire landscape of the world’s game.